A Dark World
by NighthawkTM
Summary: Warning: SI Fic Ahead! Don't take the title for its meaning, this isn't really all that dark a story. Anyway, as most SI fics are, I get tossed into an anime world, though both the world and my mind are rather messed up by it all. Multiple AnimesManga
1. Prelude

A Dark World  
An SI/Mega X-over  
By Tomas Megerson  
  
Disclaimer: I disclaim everything that I don't own.  
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com  
See my page at:   
  
Prologue  
  
Everyone moves toward the same destiny. Isn't that funny. No matter  
who we are, where we go, what we do, we can't escape our destiny. Sure  
many people say that they don't believe in destiny, but that doesn't  
really matter. We are all moving toward the same destiny. No, what is  
important is the journey to our destiny.  
  
The journey can take many paths. It can bend, twist, turn,  
fold, and loop around, but the destination is the same. We struggle to  
get the most out of our journey toward destiny. Some people do great  
things. Other people live out an ordinary life where there is no  
excitement. Then again, I suppose that excitement is based on  
everyone's own perception. I recall being excited for a birthday a  
long time ago. I was extremely sick, but my grandmother came to see me  
anyway. That's a memory etched into my heart. But its not very  
thrilling is it.  
  
A few hours ago (at least I think it was a few hours) my journey  
took a little turn. No make that a big drop. Or maybe a big climb.  
I'm not sure yet. I was out for a walk, it was a beautiful evening, and  
was crossing The Oval. The Oval is this really nice stretch of grass in  
front of the Main Library at Ohio State University. Its maybe ¼ mile  
long, maybe a bit longer. Anyway, I was out for a nice walk when I saw  
a shooting star. Not being suppositious, but wanting to grab a small  
piece of my childhood back, I made a wish. It was a silly wish, but  
then most wishes are. I wished for some true excitement in my life,  
like in the fanfics that I write.  
  
Well maybe some wandering Kami passed me as I made that wish and  
decided to grant it. Maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,  
or the right place at the right time. I don't know yet. Or maybe I was  
walking over some giant nexus of lay-lines like I read in a fanfic  
awhile back and the small power of my wish activated it. Who knows. I  
sure don't.  
  
But I changed. I can feel it even if I can't see. New thoughts  
keep entering my head. Thoughts that I wouldn't have had before. Some  
of them are dark, as dark as the void I'm floating in. At least I  
assume I'm floating, I don't feel any pressure on my body besides my  
clothes. Anyway, as I was saying, some of these new thoughts are dark.  
They're talking of death and killing and of how to kill as easily as I  
breath. The other is also talking of death, but not how to cause it.  
It's telling me how many loved ones that it has lost, and how it doesn't  
want to lose anymore. It's begging me to protect all those I care for,  
and its telling me how. It's strange, you know. Both sets of thoughts  
want me to protect people, it's just that they both want me to use a  
different method. But then, neither is trying to discredit the other.  
They seem to accept each other, and want to work together so that I'm  
better than each of them individually.  
  
Say, what's that over there? A light. It's a light. I'm  
finally at the end of this void. I guess its time to see what this  
twist in my journey is going to bring me. Me? Who am I? I...I can't  
remember. I know my name at least. But my past, the places where my  
journey has already been is... it's gone. No, its mixed up. My name is  
Tomas, but who was I. Was I an assassin, or was a just a street  
fighter? A college student? I remember mentioning a college a while  
ago. Was I a student there, or just passing through. I can't recall.  
  
The light I'm almost to it. I guess my past can wait for now.  
I need to know where I am before I can figure out where I came from. I  
don't have to worry about where I'm going though. Everyone is always  
heading toward the same destiny. But what is that destiny again? Oh  
yes, now I remember, it's death.  
  
Author's Notes:  
A while back I threatened to write a true SI to show the difference  
between my other fics and what I feel an SI is. So here you go, the  
start of my True SI. Unless I get a big response to this, or really get  
in the mood, don't expect me to write more of this soon. 


	2. Chapter 1

A Dark World  
An SI/Mega X-over  
By Tomas Megerson  
  
Disclaimer: I disclaim everything that I don't own.  
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com  
See my page at:   
  
Chapter 1  
  
Author's notes: Ok, the series this story is currently using are   
Sailor Moon and Bubble Gum Crisis 2040. I know some people will  
be thinking 'Why BGC 2040?' Well the answer is the hard suits. For  
those who have seen the series they know what's so special about them.  
To those who haven't seen the series, you'll find out later in the fic.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any series used in this. Please don't sue me.  
  
There was no one around to see the strange cloud formation that  
appeared about 10 feet off of the ground. Being that it was close to  
three in the morning that was no surprise. After a few moments a figure  
fell out of the cloud and promptly fell down. The young man blinked his  
eyes as he looked around. "This doesn't look like school." (Wait a  
minute, did I think school? Do I go to school? I thought I dropped out  
years ago and became an assassin. Wait, that doesn't sound right. I  
was an assassin and then dropped out of school? Damn it that's wrong  
too. What the hell was I doing?!!) Standing up, the young man looked  
around. "Hmm, nice neighborhood. Wonder when they'll tear it down?"  
  
That was a rather valid question. The majority of the buildings  
seemed to be condemned, and most likely scheduled for demolition. There  
were holes in the buildings, windows boarded up, and siding falling off.  
It was what was left of a family area. Shrugging his shoulders, the  
young man took only one step before he stopped. "What was my name  
again? Oh yeah, Tomas. But what about my last name? Oh well, its not  
all that important I guess." Tomas, not having anything better to do,  
started to walk down the street in a directionless wander. (Heh, I'm  
pulling a Ryoga. Ryoga? Oh yeah, anime, Ranma ½, I remember now.  
Ranma was one hell of an assassin with me during the Silver Millennium.  
And that Flaming Hiryu Shoten Ha we created to kill Happosai was  
incredible. Wait a minute, what am I thinking? I thought Ranma was an  
anime, but I can clearly recall being with him.) "Hello, Earth to  
Brain, Earth to Brain, anyone there?" After a few moments of silence  
the young man shrugged his shoulders. "Nope guess not. Oh well, guess  
I'll just have to wing it. What am I saying? I can't just wing it!  
I'm missing my entire past here! Hmm... now that I think about it, I'm  
really not missing my entire past, I just got too many pasts to keep  
straight. Now what am I gonna do about that? And when am I going to  
stop talking to myself? This is getting really annoying. And for that  
matter, where the hell am I?"  
  
With a lack of answers to any of his questions Tomas had to stop  
and think about what was going on. "Hmm...well what do fanfics tell me  
to do in a situation like this. After all parts of me at least are  
fanfic characters. I think they are anyway. It seems a logical thing.  
Hmm...well according to Ranma ½ the proper way to deal with this  
situation is....WHERE THE HELL AM I NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!!!"  
Tomas was actually surprised when he got a response. It wasn't supposed  
to work that way. He was supposed to stand there and curse someone.  
Instead he got picked up and slammed into a house, which immediately  
collapsed on him. Tomas didn't move for the next few minutes. Outside he  
could here explosions and monster growl type things. He tried to come up  
with a way to deal with the fact that a house just fell on him and it  
didn't hurt. Much.  
  
"Well, okay, it hurts...a lot. But I'll survive. I hope. Hmm...I think I  
better get out from under this." Stopping with the talk, Tomas pushed  
and shove until he had finally dug himself out of the pile of rubble.  
What he saw was...bazaar to say the least. There were ugly looking  
robots fighting equally ugly looking monsters, fighting some rather cute  
girls in short dresses, fighting some people that seemed to be from the  
middle ages, fighting some definitely female looking robots.  
  
"Wow...cool! This is...really, really warped! I've never seen anything  
like this before. It's like...a multi-verse or something. Hmm...wonder  
what anime universes they're from? Lets see...?"  
  
Tomas didn't really have time to figure out who was fighting who and on  
what side as a pair of the monsters turned and charged toward him. He  
stepped aside right as the got to him without thinking and watched them  
crash into the pile of rubble that he just climbed out of. "You know,  
that wasn't very nice. Do I look like I'm involved in this battle? To  
me, this is like a football game. You go and fight them, leave me alone.  
Wish I had some chips or something." Tomas then turned back to the giant  
melee.  
  
In retrospect, he would realize that this was a bad move. But since this  
wasn't retrospect, it seemed like a good idea at the time. He got to  
watch a whole 5 seconds of the fight before he was grabbed from behind  
and thrown straight into the middle of it all. He might have even sworn  
at the event, except he crashed straight into the back of one of the  
robots and dropped like a lead weight.  
  
"Ite....that....hurts...a lot..."  
  
Being pretty upset at having been thrown into a robot after stating that  
he didn't want to be involved did nothing for Tomas' temper. Grabbing  
the robot by the ankles he yanked up, hard. The ugly machine crashed to  
the ground as Tomas summoned his sword and cut its head off.  
  
"What the...? Where the hell I get this sword? And why in the world is  
it gold? Gold is one of the softest metals out there. What kind of idiot  
would make a sword made of gold?"  
  
In retrospect once again, stopping to question where he got a weapon  
from would be added to Tomas' list of things not to do in the middle of  
a battle. He got punched in the back by something and flew forward into  
the back of yet another robot. About the only good thing was that he had  
had his sword held in front of him, so when he hit the robot, it was  
impaled.  
  
***  
  
From the edge of the battle, Nene watched as the stranger was  
thrown into another Boomer. She had no idea where he had come from, or  
why exactly he was fighting with a sword, or even why he hadn't been  
killed yet. She maneuvered herself out of the battle and turned her  
scanners on him. What she got surprised her. He was human, totally and  
without a doubt. Some sort of strange energy also surrounded him. The  
energy at first appeared to be the same thing that those impossibly fast  
black creatures were made of. Then it shifted and was more like those  
idiotic girls were using. And then it had the gall to go back to the  
energy that it had started as.  
  
Nene stopped in surprise as the stranger moved again. Actually  
he just fell on his back, with the boomer falling on top of him. She  
winced as she thought of how much it must have hurt.  
  
***  
  
Sailor Mercury was forced to stop and blink as the boomer that  
had fallen on the new person rolled over and the man sat up. This  
shocked her since personal experience had told her how heavy the boomers  
were. She trained her Visor to get a power signature from him.  
  
When her Visor came up with power in the negatives she almost  
fainted. This new person should by all rights be dead. He had no life  
energy in him. Even youma and daimons had life energy. It was like the  
stranger was simply a void.  
  
Seeing Sailor Moon currently off to the side, she moved over to  
talk to the fearful leader. There was a very good chance that a new  
enemy had just showed up, and Mercury was afraid that one more enemy  
would be enough to kill them all.  
  
***  
  
Lemnear ducked and slashed at yet another of the demons. Her  
sword bit through it as though it was a hot knife through butter.  
Spinning she barely avoided a plasma blast that a boomer spit out.  
  
"SHIT!!! THAT HURTS!!!!"  
  
Lemnear spun to the pain filled cry. Her eyes widened slightly as a  
figure got up from the ground, a huge hole burned in the back of his  
shirt. The gold sword in his hand came up to a guard position and his  
fire filled eyes seemed to burn through her. She took an involuntary  
step back as the tip of the blade was suddenly pointed at her throat.  
  
And then his head turned when his eyes caught movement at the edge of  
his field of vision.  
  
***  
  
Tomas's head turned when something caught his vision. Boy did  
he want to make that robot pay...but this...it was something etched in  
his memory, something to be terrified of. As he watched the girl move,  
the memory unfogged. And then the panic swept in.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
And then he ran away.  
  
Running away wasn't something Tomas liked to do. He was always  
one to face his problems head on, even if it meant getting hurt. Of  
course, he was also one to be as sneaky as possible to stay out of that  
trouble. But there were times that didn't work.  
  
When confronting the uncute tomboy of Akane Tendo, running away  
was the only option. The farther he was from her, the better for his  
health. Now he just had to keep it that way. Everything was going so  
well until she showed up. Sure he was being thrown, slammed into robots  
and blasted by weird energy blasts, but at least it was fun. Suffering  
he wrath of a flat-chested Tomboy...as Vash would say, "Scary!"  
  
Eventually Tomas slowed his panic run into an easy lope. He was  
far enough, at least in his mind, away from the Tomboy that he didn't  
need the panic. His eyes swept over the city as he ran. The buildings  
kept getting nicer then where he had started. There were a lot of  
skyscrapers in the background with lower buildings around him. The area  
he was in now kind of reminded him of Juuban. Of course, that thought  
caused him to stop and try to figure out whether or not it WAS him who  
remembered Juuban. In the end he decided it was him who remembered, and  
continued on his way.  
  
***  
  
Usagi Tsukino sat against a tree in the park. With her were her  
fellow Senshi. All of the Sailor Senshi were exhausted from the  
previous night's battle. It'd been along time since they had run into  
all of their enemies at the same time. And now there was a chance that  
they might have another one. If it wasn't for the fact that he ran  
screaming off they might be worried. As it was they were simply being  
cautious. Well, all except Usagi. She was sleeping.  
  
Rei snorted at her leader as she leaned back on her elbows. The  
girl couldn't take anything serious. She had tried to do a fire reading  
on the new person the night before, but all she got were images of three  
people, none of which looked anything like the person she had seen. Rei  
just couldn't figure it out, and it was driving her mad. She hadn't  
been able to get any useful information out of the Sacred Fire since the  
old temple had be destroyed by rampaging boomers. The new temple just  
wasn't the same.  
  
Ami was playing around with her computer. She was going over  
the readings that she had gotten from the man the night before. It  
still baffled her at how he could have a negative power reading. After  
studying a bit more, she came to the conclusion that he had somehow  
managed to hide his power. She didn't know how, but that was the only  
thing she could think of. It was so frustrating not knowing the  
answers.  
  
Minako and Makoto were sitting together gazing out into the  
park. With it being spring the cherry blossoms were in bloom and the  
colors were breath taking. They were occasionally pointing out a cute  
guy, but all of them were taken. There conversation, however, was more  
focused on what to do if they ever ran into all their enemies at the  
same time again. They had taken quiet a pounding the night before, and  
even though their Senshi powers had healed them, they still felt sore.  
  
The two moon cats, Luna and Artemis, were busy trying to get  
Usagi to wake up. After all, it was hard to hold a meeting when your  
leader was sleeping and mumbling about all the good food she wanted to  
eat. As Usagi cried out for ice cream, the other's sweat dropped.  
  
***  
  
Tomas whistled as he walked down the street. He had found a  
nice run down temple the night before and managed to get a solid night's  
sleep. The place had looked like a demilitarized zone, but it insured  
that he wasn't disturbed. Now, as he walked through the city in the  
daylight, he tried to come up with a way to get money. He didn't find a  
wallet on himself, and he couldn't recall having a bank account here,  
which meant for all intents and purposes, he was broke.  
  
[Something needs to be said about Tomas. He likes money. Of  
course, that's only because you can't buy anything without money. No  
money means no anime. No anime is a bad thing in his opinion. And now  
out of this pointless ramble.]  
  
Tomas walked down the street casually looking into shop windows.  
It was rare for him to see anything that he actually wanted, but there  
were a few items. As he reached a corner, he stopped and looked around.  
The streets weren't very crowed today, with most people staying indoors  
after the big battle the night before. He gazed up and down the street  
before his eyes caught something...an ATM. Something seemed to click in  
his mind.  
  
He walked up to the ATM and frowned. He then reached into one  
of his pockets and pulled out a small black device. "Now where have I  
seen this before? Oh well, no matter." He placed the device against  
the ATM and pressed the big button labeled HACK. About 15 seconds later  
it beep and an account popped up on the ATM's screen. Tomas quickly  
took a good 20,000 yen from the account and closed out. He watched the  
nice little black device turn off and he pocketed it. Now at least he  
had a source of income.  
  
With his newfound wealth, Tomas once again began to wander the  
city. He had a place to live that he wasn't paying for and money. He  
really didn't need anything else. At least, he didn't need anything  
right now. With a shrug he decided to head for a park he past earlier.  
It would be a good place to think.  
  
As he was wandering the city trying to find his way to the park,  
his eyes caught sight of something rather important...a bank. He had  
this money, but he didn't have anywhere to save it. And he sure didn't  
want to continue living in the run down shrine. Then a thought occurred  
to him. He had no identification. No I.D. meant he couldn't open an  
account. With a sigh, he turned away from the bank and continued on his  
way.  
  
As he walked down the street generally ignoring everything, he  
began to form a plan on what to do with his new home. Since it appeared  
that no one cared he was there (at least not one night) he figured he  
could rebuild it or something. All he needed to do was hack into enough  
accounts to get the money to afford it. Of course, people would  
probably object to that, but it didn't really bother him.  
  
***  
  
Being a thief turned out to be a much better living than Tomas  
had anticipated. Whoever he had gotten that neat little black device  
from sure missed out on a good way to make a living. Stuffed into his  
pockets now was a cool 250,000 yen. Not to bad for 6 hours of work.  
All he had done all day was travel to various ATMs and hack into them  
for money. Some of the accounts had very little in them, so he left  
them alone. No reason to take money from those who could ill afford to  
loose it. Other accounts though had more money than he could have  
gotten from the machines. Those he took a nice amount out of.  
  
Currently, though, he was walking through the local mall. He  
was surprised at how crowded it was, not to mention how many shops it  
had. It seemed like everyone wanted to shop these days. With the chaos  
that ran through the city at night it was pretty surprising to see it  
all. Most of the people around, he noticed, were teens, most likely  
trying to forget about their classes or hunting for boys/girls depending  
on their gender.  
  
Tomas sighed as he recalled the times he went to the mall to  
relax. Not that that was very often. He'd had a couple of friends  
who'd worked in one for a while and he went mostly to chat with them.  
  
Right now though he was in the middle of some serious shopping.  
He shrugged the shoulder straps of his new book bag again, shifting the  
weight. Inside the bag was a metal box, which he could store his hard  
earned money in, as well as a few new changes of clothes. In the bags  
in his hands was camping gear. A tent some pots and pans, lighter fluid  
and the like. There were little things that he'd need to survive while  
he got his new home repaired as well.  
  
With a smile at a day finished well, Tomas headed out of the  
mall. Quietly his stomach rumbled informing him it was time for a meal.  
Given how much money he had on himself at the moment, he figured he  
could afford to eat out.  
  
***  
  
"So anyway, Leon was staring over my shoulder looking at a  
screen full of static. I told him that all the transmissions at the  
battle had been scrambled. After he left I simply refocused the  
picture." Nene gave her friend and fellow Knight Saber a grin.  
  
Lina gave a small laugh and took another sip from her drink.  
"Has he always been this interested in the Knight Sabers? If he decides  
to go to someone else to try and get his information we could really be  
in trouble."  
  
Nene gave another grin and went back to eating the slice of  
chocolate cake in front of her. The two were in a small coffee shop  
snacking and gossiping. After such a strenuous fight as the one the  
night before it was good to relax a bit. The cake helped that out too.  
If there was one thing that made the day better it was chocolate. After  
swallowing another bite, "Leon will always come to me. What he's asking  
for is stuff I shouldn't give him. He could get in trouble for it. I'm  
the only..." Nene's eyes were tracking something that was behind Lina.  
Or rather someone. "Lina, that guy in the corner of the room. He's the  
one who was in the fight yesterday."  
  
Linna blinked and turned in her chair, her brown hair flowing around her  
head as she tried to catch a glimpse of the young man who had just  
walked in. She followed him for a few moments as he sat himself down at  
the counter and waited to be served. Seeing him not doing anything  
more, she turned back to Nene. "Are you sure that's him? I didn't get  
a good look at him."  
  
Nene gave Linna a small serious nod. "Of course I'm sure! You think I  
would forget something important like that. It was definitely him." A  
worried frown came to her face. "What do you think we should do?"  
  
"Hmm...well...Sylia said she couldn't find any information about him.  
Why don't we follow him? We might at least know where he lives that  
way."  
  
Nene's mind turned it over a few times as her she occasionally glanced  
at the man.  
  
***  
  
Tomas sighed as he waited for his bowl of rice to arrive. The  
biggest problem he had run into so far was a limited knowledge of  
Japanese. Sure he'd taken three and a half years of the language while  
in high school, but that didn't make him an expert. The funny thing was  
that he could write and read the language better than he could speak it.  
He didn't want to walk around with a pen and paper all the time so he  
could get his meaning across.  
  
It was hard knowing the language but unable to keep up with  
those who spoke it. The fact that he had to mentally translate it all  
didn't help one bit. It made him seem almost stupid. Someone had even  
said that on the street. Tomas had decked him.  
  
"Arigato," came from him when a large bowl of rice was placed in  
front of him. It wasn't much, but it was good enough for him. He'd  
stopped trying to figure out his life before he'd arrived in Japan.  
Sorting it all out gave him a massive headache, and that wasn't  
something he needed. Instead, he simply attacked his rice.  
  
The meal didn't last him long, perhaps ten minutes. He was good  
enough with chopsticks, but no speed eater. The rice was good, better  
than the instant stuff he thought he was use to. With that finished, he  
went and paid for the meal before leaving for what he had now termed  
home, never noticing he two young women following him.  
  
***  
  
2 Weeks later  
  
Tomas sat against a tree watching the construction crews at work  
on his new home. After some consideration he had decided to have the  
shrine simply rebuilt rather then torn down and a house or something  
placed there. Better to hide it from the government, he had hoped. A  
week of theft had brought in for him plenty of cash, enough that he had  
managed to get a fake idea that had some real background to it. One of  
the local Yakuza factions specialized in the stuff. It had been good  
enough for him to hire the construction crew at least.  
  
His eyes drifted to the metal box that used to be where he  
stored his money. He now had a real checking account that he was able  
to use, thanks again to being able to buy Yakuza influence. Of course  
they also hit him for 'protection' but he made a note of some of the  
names. He'd get the money back.  
  
Now he was busy trying to figure out what to do with his life.  
He had a vague idea that he had family somewhere, but he couldn't recall  
who. He didn't have any friends yet that he could hang out with, and  
while he could go out and get a job perhaps, it was far more profitable  
to be a thief, as long as he was smart about it.  
  
There'd been a report in a newspaper a few days ago about his  
thefts. Of course the paper didn't know he was the one responsible, but  
that didn't stop Tomas from deciding to become more cautious. He had  
more than enough money to live on for a few months at least, and it  
would be best if the thief just went away. That left him with a lot of  
spare time.  
  
After two days of doing nothing but watching the construction  
take place, Tomas was bored. He was very bored in fact. The only  
problem was that for the life of him, he couldn't think of anything to  
do. He'd read in the paper about some more of those monster attacks and  
robot things, which was interesting, and made Tomas decide to stay home  
at night. Getting into fights with things he didn't understand didn't  
seem like a good idea. Though it would be fun to watch again sometime.  
  
Mostly though, he read books. There had been a bookstore not  
too far from where he now lived, and he had raided its fantasy section.  
Stuffed into a box in his tent were over a dozen books by the various  
authors he enjoyed. Sure he had read most of the books three or four  
times already, but that didn't stop him from reading them again. He had  
already made plans that sometime in the next week or two he'd go back  
and see if they carried any Star Wars books. There were enough of those  
that Tomas was sure he could spend a week or two reading them.  
  
The tired yawn that came to his lips wasn't restricted at all.  
This was getting to be far to boring for his tastes. All this sitting  
and reading was starting to get to him. "My god..." he whispered, "it  
feels like I'm in high school again." Was his life really getting into  
such a horrid rut? It seemed like it. "Man...I need to get out and do  
something. I wonder if I can find a B-ball game or something to join.  
Hmmm..."  
  
Despite these thoughts of active fun, Tomas remained where he  
was, simply watching the construction. "Man, I wish they could hurry up  
or something. At least if this place was finished I could get a  
computer and a TV and relax that way." Getting the chance to surf the  
net was one of the major things he missed. Tomas knew that he spent  
most of his nights on the net talking to friends, and now here he was,  
all alone.  
  
It was a sardonic smirk that came to his lips at that thought.  
Alone, just like normal. Since he was eight, Tomas had been an outcast,  
refusing to bend or break to be like those around him. The name-  
calling, the insults, the slights, the fights, all of that had hurt, but  
it hadn't broken him. And that fact made him far more proud of himself  
then anything else he had done. And so again he was alone, and it  
didn't hurt at all. It felt...natural. And it made him strong. Not  
strong against all the supernatural and technological nightmares running  
around the city, but strong against any emotional pain that could attack  
him. His real armor, the armor around his heart was as strong as ever.  
  
And that...that was disgusting. He didn't want to be alone,  
guarding his feelings every waking and sleeping second. He sure the  
hell didn't want to protect himself from them. That would eat him up  
eventually, hell it might have already eaten him up. It was kind of  
hard to figure out. Maybe at night, with nothing going on, then maybe  
he would be able to figure it out. It seemed as likely a course as  
anything.  
  
"Damnit, I can't take this anymore!" Tomas knew he was  
practically snarling now. This life was too boring, too inactive for  
him to last much longer. He needed something to do; something with some  
sort of action. A determination grew within him. He needed something  
fun to do, and if there was a god in heaven, he was going to find that  
fun!  
  
A course set in his mind Tomas stood up and walked with a  
purposeful gate toward the long set of stars leading down the hill.  
Maybe he'd find a pick-up game of basketball. Maybe he'd find an  
arcade. This was Japan, they had to have one somewhere. Hell, maybe  
he'd just find a gang and get the crap beaten out of him. But at least  
he wouldn't be bored.  
  
Before he even reached the steps, however, something fun reached  
him. Stepping to the top of the steps a young woman let her gaze take  
everything in. Tomas did what any healthy male would do and took in her  
looks. The long black hair was quite pretty, and her eyes held a  
questioning shine to them that was appealing. Her face was definitely  
easy on the eyes, and she had a figure that would gain her at least a  
second glance.  
  
Had Tomas been working with his old high school personality,  
looking the woman over would have been all he'd done before moving on.  
That Tomas had always been too shy to ask any beautiful girl out and he  
always managed to keep his attraction hidden under a protective barrier.  
However, the short time out of high school had seriously loosened him  
up, and given him a lot more confidence in himself.  
  
And so Tomas didn't walk away, wondering what could have been  
like so often before. "Hey there beautiful. How are you this fine  
day?" The girl looked at him for a moment and blinked. "Ah, damn."  
Tomas had finally come to realize that he was speaking in English, and  
that he had been most of the day. He made a note to go out and buy  
something to help him with the language problem later and switched to  
Japanese.  
  
"Good Afternoon. How are you today?" Mentally Tomas swore again.  
Almost all of the Japanese he knew was formal. Being overly formal was  
no way to flirt with a girl. If he ever got home, and remembered who  
taught him, Tomas was going to have a lot of words about this problem  
with his teacher.  
  
"Umm...good afternoon. I'm...uh...fine I guess." The girl looked  
around the temple grounds in a bit of wonder. "What's going on here?"  
  
Tomas ignored her frown as he began to work out the sentence structure  
in his mind. This was even worse then when he had gone to the  
government officials to buy the chunk of land. They at least spoke  
English passingly well. "Government said land for sale. I bought the  
land. I am rebuilding the temple that was here."  
  
The girl before him frowned and seemed to take what he said in. Tomas  
simply waited quietly for the girl to respond. Finally, after what  
Tomas thought was a good half-hour but was no more then a couple of  
minutes, she did. "Why are you rebuilding the shrine?"  
  
Tomas simply shrugged. "It seemed like the right thing to do. Besides,  
the government does not tax religious places." Tomas smirked at that.  
In Tomas' opinion, if he didn't have to pay property tax, so much the  
better.  
  
The girl before him seemed to take that in again before speaking. "What  
will you do then?"  
  
"Move in. Maybe find the priest who used to work here and ask him to  
come back." Tomas hadn't planned that far ahead yet, but it seemed like  
a good idea.  
  
"My grandfather is dead." The girl's voice was haunted as she spoke,  
and her eyes held a lot of pain in them.  
  
Tomas winced as he looked at her. That was not something he had  
expected to here. He had thought that perhaps the priest had moved out  
or something. He had never thought to hear that the man was dead. "I'm  
sorry. I did not know. Is there anything I can do."  
  
The girl's eyes held a distant look to them for awhile as she seemed to  
consider what to say. Tomas could almost see the war going on in her  
eyes. Finally, the indecision seemed to leave her. "I want to work  
here again, to honor my grandfather."  
  
Tomas nodded his head with a solemn air. "Of course. That seems  
fitting. I am Tomas Shinkyou." At the look she gave him, Tomas  
shrugged, repeating the information he had placed in the ID he had  
bought. "My grandfather is Japanese."  
  
"I see." The girl seemed to steel herself before she continued.  
"I am Rei Hino. Pleased to meet you."  
Author's notes: So, I finally finished chapter one. Good for me. Now  
I got no clue where the hell this is going. ^^; If anyone wants to  
make a suggestion or two on where I could take it, email me, please. 


	3. Chapter 2

A Dark World  
An SI/Mega X-over  
By Tomas Megarson  
  
Disclaimer: I disclaim everything that I don't own.  
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com  
See my page at:   
Chapter 2  
  
"Yeah, so anyway, I figured, hell, I got nothing else in my  
life, I might as well start again." Tomas was stretched out underneath  
a tree as he talked to Rei. It had been three weeks since they had met,  
and Rei had come by occasionally to see how the construction was going,  
to give advise on the placement of things, and simply to talk. In  
truth, the construction was going better then Tomas had hoped. After  
the clear of the old rubble, the hardest part, so the foreman had told  
him, had been in procuring the supplies. Since the shrine was being  
rebuilt, they had to have lumber shipped in for it, rather then using  
more modern materials. With that done, the work sped up significantly,  
and it was almost finished. The foreman had even mentioned the  
possibility of Tomas being able to move in that night, which he was  
looking forward to.  
  
Bringing himself back from those thoughts, Tomas turned his attention  
back to Rei. Out of what happened when she stopped by, the talking was  
what Tomas enjoyed the most. He'd been a touch upset when he found out  
she was only fourteen, but managed to shrug that off fast. He'd known  
freshmen high school girls who had dated high school seniors, and that  
was about the same age difference. At least he thought so. He still  
couldn't recall exactly how old he was.  
  
Tomas brought his head back down so that he could look over at  
Rei, who was also resting against the tree, though at a 90 degree angle  
from him. Her head was turned away from him, so he could see her main  
of black hair. Something about her hair had caught his eye fairly  
early. In the end Tomas had decided it was the purple highlights. He  
couldn't recall anyone else he knew having purple highlights in his or  
her hair.  
  
Tomas brought his attention back to the present as Rei spoke.  
"It must be hard loosing your memories like that. But, why didn't you  
go to the police?"  
  
"What was I supposed to say?" Tomas' voice was filled with a  
sarcastic twist. "Hello, I'd like to report a missing person. Who?  
Myself, actually. Well, I assume I'm missing, since I don't know where  
I am." Tomas, loosing himself in the rant, just kept on going. "Oh,  
and while we're at it, I need to report an illegal immigrant as well.  
Who? Myself again, believe it or not. Two out of my three memories  
have me being born in the United States while the third has be being  
born on the moon, and as I don't have a passport, I assume I'm here  
illegally. Would you mind deporting me? After you figure out where I  
am, I mean." Tomas snorted. "Yeah right, they'd lock me up and throw  
away the key. I'd rather have my freedom."  
  
Rei finally turned her head to look at Tomas. Her eyes where  
questioning as she thought her mind over what next to say. Finally, she  
decided, "Three memories? The moon!?"  
  
"Yeah." Tomas gave a shrug and closed his eyes. "I keep  
confusing myself with some characters from some stories I've written. I  
just can't figure out which memory is a story and which one is who I  
really am."  
  
"Wait a second." Rei moved herself away from the tree slightly  
so that she could gaze at Tomas. Her eyes were a curious mixture of  
both hard anger and cat-like curiosity. "What's this about being born  
on the moon?"  
  
Tomas gave a sort of nonchalant shrug. "I was born on the moon,  
as I said. It was part of some kingdom or another. I was a thief."  
  
"What?"  
  
Tomas turned to Rei and frowned. "Why's that so surprising? I  
told you it was from some story I'd written...or at least I think I  
wrote...and every good story needs a thief."  
  
"Wait, but..." Rei stopped herself and gazed at Tomas. "Never  
mind, just go on." She sat back with a slightly nervous look on her  
face, as though she knew more then she said.  
  
Tomas gazed at her hard, wondering if she knew something he  
didn't, but put it aside. Hell, telling the rest of the story could  
even shock out whatever she was hiding.  
  
"Well, I was a pickpocket actually. Never knew my parents, so  
it was the only way I could survive. I did have a brother, though. He  
may not have been my blood, I can't recall. I sort of doubt it.  
Anyway, I was a thief, got caught, was ordered beheaded by some bitch of  
a Queen, tried to break out, got saved by some cute lady who's name I  
can't recall." Closing his eyes once more, Tomas finished, "Did some  
other stuff, got in a war, and got killed."  
  
"I see." Rei let her mind mull over what she had been told. It  
sounded to her, however, that Tomas could have been from the Silver  
Millennium, and if so, then...well, who knows what then. Given his  
story he could have been anywhere when the Silver Millennium fell, on  
either side of the battle. If only they could find the Princess. She'd  
probably know.  
  
"Right, so I'm pretty messed up." Tomas paused for a moment and  
frowned. "For some reason that strikes me as some kind of inside joke."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah." A few more moments of thought and Tomas shrugged it  
off. "Oh well, no big deal."  
  
A peeved look crossed Rei's face, her eyes narrowing slightly in  
anger. "What do you mean no big deal? That could be a key to getting  
your memories back! Isn't that important to you?"  
  
"Honestly?" Tomas shrugged again, and then wondered where he  
picked up that habit before continuing. "Nope. Well, not enough to ge  
a headache over, anyway." Turning his gaze away from Rei. "I don't  
really have any problems with my life. I don't have any stress, I don't  
have anyone lording over me, I'm going to have a place to live soon, and  
I'm rich."  
  
Rei blinked. "You're rich?"  
  
Tomas blinked once and suddenly became very cautious. That had  
been a slip of the tongue, and now he was going to have to try to cover  
it. "Yeah, in the wallet I had on me there was a debate card." He  
turned his gaze back to Rei. "I didn't find anyone with that family  
name, but the account attached to the card worked fine. So, I'm rich."  
  
Turning her gaze to the construction going on, she murmured to  
herself, "I guess so. You are rebuilding the shrine, after all."  
  
"Yup." There, Tomas thought, that should cover him for a bit.  
"So, as I was going to say, what more do I need?"  
  
Bringing herself back to the conversation, Rei asked "What about  
family and friends?"  
  
"What about them?" A frown covered Tomas' face. "For all I  
know I had no friends and my family hated me. At least by accepting  
this life I know what I got. I'm not busy searching for something that  
could end up disappointing me."  
  
"That's...sad."  
  
Tomas shook his head. "Yeah, maybe if you dwell on it. I'm not  
doing that, though. I'm just gonna make a new life for myself."  
  
Rei sighed for a moment and then frowned. "Wait a minute. When  
we met, you said that your grandfather was Japanese. How the hell do  
you know that?"  
  
Reaching into his pocket, Tomas pulled out a wallet and from  
that the fake drivers license he'd obtained weeks before. "I had this  
on me." He tossed the card to Rei. "Since I don't look all that  
Japanese, I assume that the heritage is a bit farther back then my  
parents. I could be wrong, of course."  
  
Rei had been around Tomas enough the past couple of weeks to  
catch some things about him. "But you don't think you are."  
  
"Actually, I don't care if I am. Its really not important to  
me."  
  
Rei shook her head in dismay. She knew she should have expected  
something like that, but for some reason she hadn't. She opened her  
mouth to speak again on the subject when her watch started beeping. She  
grimaced, knowing that it was a signal from someone that a youma was  
attacking. "I need to go now." She stood up, and grabbed her backpack  
from the ground. "I told some friends of mine I'd meet them."  
  
Tomas stood up and gave Rei a small, polite bow. "Then don't  
let me hold you here. Have fun, Rei."  
  
"Thank you." With a small return bow, she turned and left the  
shrine.  
  
***  
  
With his feet almost scraping against the ground, Tomas wandered  
through the streets, not really paying any attention to where he was  
going. His mind was too busy trying to figure out how to clean up the  
mess he'd made earlier to care about where he was. He was sure Rei was  
very suspicious of him now, though why he felt that way he had no idea.  
  
"Okay," he muttered to himself, "maybe it was all the bullshit I  
gave her when we first met. Damn it, I need to learn to keep my mouth  
shut." He thought about this more as he trudged through the streets,  
his feet making turns whenever they felt like it, not caring where they  
were taking the rest of him.  
  
Finally, his hands came up and grabbed his head rubbing the  
temples even as his eyes squeezed shut. "God, now I got a headache.  
This really sucks." Tomas opened his eyes and glanced around. "There  
better be a drug store around here or something."  
  
Removing his hands from his head, he looked around the area he  
was in. Then he blinked. "The hell...?"  
  
His emerald eyes shifted around the street trying to comprehend  
what he was seeing. Something small triggered in the back of his mind,  
and unconsciously an angry grimace came to his face.  
  
All around him were cages, metal bars, and various other  
impediments. Tied to or trapped within said impediments were people.  
Dirty, smelly he now realized, barely dressed, and collared people. His  
eyes ran over the various signs, taking in the words that they said.  
Instantly he tensed up, his attitude shifted, and he began paying  
careful attention to everything and everyone around him. "Slavers,"  
came growling from his throat.  
  
With his eyes trying to watch everything and everyone, Tomas let  
his gaze drift around, trying to determine where he could go to get away  
from the place. Slavery just plain disgusted him, and made an almost  
uncontrolled anger build up inside. Not seeing a nearby exit, he turned  
around and simply began walking, sure that a straight line would take  
him out of the place eventually.  
  
Tomas wandered his way through the crowded city streets, paying  
little attention to everything around him. His eyes glazed over various  
slaves, happily forgetting they were slaves and seeing them as everyone  
else. His green eyes looked at those around him with less then no  
interest. Occasionally they locked onto a woman who would have been  
pretty if not for the grime that covered her. Still, he walked on,  
continuing to take everything in with no care.  
  
The resounding crack of a whip yanked Tomas' eyes from yet  
another slave block and brought his attention back into reality. While  
he could ignore mass slavery when all the slaves were doing were sitting  
there, something about the whip pulled at his attention. His head and  
eyes moved quickly, thinking danger to himself, in an attempt to find  
the scene of the weapon.  
  
What he saw disturbed him more then the slave blocks had when he  
was caring. Almost directly in front of him and perhaps a dozen yards  
away, a large, fat, disgusting slob of a man was towering over a  
cowering young girl he judged to not even be a teenager yet. Bringing  
his mind back to operation, he focused on the sounds of the market,  
trying to pick out what the fat slob was yelling at the girl. It didn't  
take him long to filter through the voices and find the correct one.  
  
"You damn bitch! You weakly, pitiful worm! You and your sickly  
body should be grateful to me! You're alive because I'm so good to  
you!"  
  
As Tomas' legs carried him closer to the scene, the emotions he  
tried to seal started coming back. His anger began to intensify as he  
approached the pair, the rage beginning to boil his blood and the whip  
continued to come down on the girl.  
  
"Anyone else would have killed you already! You owe me  
everything, you weakling bitch! I should kill you now and put you out  
of my misery!"  
  
As the fat slob raised the whip again to strike the girl, Tomas'  
hand shot out and grabbed the guy's wrist, halting the continued attack.  
His eyes were filled with murder and his mind wasn't that far behind in  
thought. By the time the slob had turned around to see who had stopped  
him, however, Tomas had managed to hide away his emotions again. "How  
much?"  
  
The slob looked at Tomas in bafflement, and demanded "How much  
what?"  
  
"The slave." Tomas couldn't believe he was doing this, but he  
couldn't think of any other way to save the poor girl. "How much do you  
want for her?"  
  
"This miserable creature?" The slob turned around and spit on  
the girl. "Why would you want her?"  
  
It took everything Tomas had to not deck the bastard. "I need  
someone to take care of my dog while I'm at work. I'm sure she can open  
a door to let him in and out, and can fill his water bowl. I don't want  
to pay a lot, so she should be perfect. How much?"  
  
The man's beady little eyes narrowed as he took in Tomas. Here,  
he felt, was a chance to get a killing. "No less then 300,000."  
  
Tomas scoffed, despite the fact that he'd pay that to save the  
girl's life. Well, if he could afford it, anyway. He really wished  
he'd robbed some more accounts, now. "I heard what you were saying  
about her as I approached. Its not like she's good for hard labor.  
I'll give you 60,000."  
  
"60,000! That's outrageous!" The fat man's nostrils flared  
like a bull's at the thought. "I'll go down to 275,000."  
  
"Still too much. Look at her. With the beating you gave her,  
I'll be lucky to have her make it home with me without fainting.  
80,000."  
  
"Look, BOY, you're the one that wants her, not me. You've got  
to live with the consequences. 250,000."  
  
"Mister, I'm the ONLY one willing to buy her. That makes this a  
buyer's market. 110,000."  
  
"I can find uses for her. 225,000."  
  
"Not without a loss. 135,000."  
  
"Alright, boy, I'm getting tired of this. I'll sell her to you  
for 210,000. No less."  
  
Tomas gave the guy a nasty smirk. "Really? Well, Yamikazema-  
san says you'll let me have her for 150,000."  
  
The slob opened his mouth to refuse, and then stopped.  
"Umm...Yamikazema-san?"  
  
The nasty smirk on Tomas' face turned to an evil grin. "Yeah,  
the guy who controls the entire west side. Well?" That had been an  
evil move, but one Tomas was willing to make. Yamikazema controlled the  
Yakuza who he had gotten his fake ID from, and who he had paid 'fees' to  
so he didn't run into problems with the goons while he 'worked.' It was  
quite a serious name to drop.  
  
That fat man swallowed for a moment, and then nodded. "Well,  
then, 150,000 it is."  
  
"Good. You take Visa?" At the man's nod, Tomas pulled out his  
wallet and removed the credit card from it. The fat slob pulled out of  
his pocket a grease stained, crumpled paper and handed it to Tomas as he  
slid the credit card through his small reader.  
  
"That's her ownership papers." From another grease stained  
pocket he pulled out a small electronic pad and pen. When the credit  
card reader confirmed the money transaction he handed the pen to Tomas.  
"Just sign this and she's all yours. The dumb bitch."  
  
Tomas took the pen, grimaced and the slimy feel of it, and  
signed the pad, before handing it back. Folding up the ownership paper,  
he placed both it and his Visa back into his wallet before taking the  
offered leash that was attached to the collar around the girl's neck.  
"Let's go."  
  
***  
  
Walking down the street holding the leash attached to his brand  
new, though in horrible condition, slave, Tomas wondered just what the  
hell he was going to do with her. He had no need of a slave, thought  
that it was simply wrong to keep a slave, and basically had no clue what  
to do with her. His eyes glanced around at the few people in the  
streets that he passed, trying to judge what they thought. He was quite  
surprised when he noticed the fact a good number of them had collars  
exactly like the one his slave wore. that disturbed him quite a bit.  
  
His eyes shifted to the dark sky ahead of him, taking in the  
stars that were just coming out. Those lights didn't give a damn what  
he did with the girl, hell, most of them were probably not even really  
there. Dropping his head, he managed to get a brief eyeful of the  
sunset behind him in a window. Seeing the last ray of sunlight leave  
his small piece of the world made him briefly wonder about the condition  
of his soul.  
  
Tomas quickly shook that thought away, not really giving a damn  
about it. He'd worry about that when he died. Looking at his new  
slave, he blinked as he watched her stumbling along, barely managing to  
stay on her feet.  
  
"Woah, hold up." Tomas stopped walking and glanced around.  
Seeing a small park across the street with an empty bench, Tomas changed  
his destination. "Come on, this way." Tugging lightly on the leash  
without really thinking of it, Tomas guided the girl into a turn and led  
her across the street. Upon feeling the leash begin to twist and pull  
in his hand, he turned to look at the girl. Seeing her stumbling with  
her legs trembling, he took a step back, bent down so that he didn't  
tower over her so much, and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders  
to support her.  
  
The girl twitched and tried to pull away, a panicked look in her  
eyes. Tomas ignored the look and pulling, and helped the girl over to  
the bench. Reaching the old, wooden thing, Tomas forced the girl to sit  
on it by the simple matter of guiding her in front of it, and pushing  
down on her shoulders. With that done, he sat down next to her.  
  
He ignored the girl when she scooted away to the edge of the  
bench, keeping a distance between them. She didn't try to stand up, so  
he didn't really care. Instead, Tomas sat in silence and watched the  
buildings across the street. Through open curtains he could see  
families beginning their dinner, the tops of heads of people sitting on  
chairs, or others standing and passing food out. It made him wonder if  
that's what he was missing by not searching out for his family. Hell,  
maybe Rei had been right, maybe it was wrong to ignore family and try to  
strike out on his own.  
  
The headlights of a car coming down the street caught Tomas'  
eye, and he turned to watch it. It pulled into a driveway not far down  
the street, and as a man got out, the door to the house opened and a  
small child came flying out of it. Tomas couldn't help but smile at the  
scene. Something about that uncaring joy made him think the world  
wasn't too bad. But then, he wondered, why was he growling?  
  
A few personal checks and an attempt to stop it failed to change  
anything. Recalling the monsters of his earliest memories, he looked  
around hoping not to see any. Hope wasn't needed, as the park behind  
him and the street around him were empty as far as he could see.  
Finally he turned his gaze to the young slave girl on the bench with  
him.  
  
Thinking about it for a few moments, he stood up, moved over to  
the girl, and brought his face down so that his nose was almost touching  
hers. His face had what could best be described as a stupid question  
look on it as he tilted it to the side and asked her, "Are you hungry?"  
  
The girl was almost trembling as her head nodded slight. "Yes,  
Master," she managed to get out in a stuttering voice.  
  
"Oh." Tomas blinked and stood up with the gaze of sudden  
realization in his eyes. "Well, lets get home and grab some food. Its  
only a few more blocks."  
  
As Tomas stepped back, the girl stood up, her legs no longer  
trembling, but a weary look to her face. Now thinking about it, Tomas  
didn't think that continuing so soon was a good idea, but if worse came  
to worse, he could always carry her.  
  
The pair continued down the darkened streets, Tomas suddenly  
wondering why there were not any streetlights. He'd never bothered to  
come down to the streets at night before, not having any reason to do  
so. The darkness, he found, was almost oppressive in its totality, the  
windows of the buildings acting as small islands of safety.  
  
On seeing the large flight of stone stairs appear out of the  
darkness, he smiled. It was good to be home. Even better that he  
wasn't going home alone. As he led the girl to the stairs, he saw the  
foreman of the construction crew standing at the bottom. "Suzenka-san,"  
he said as he approached, "what can I do for you?"  
  
"Shinkyou-san, I just wanted to tell you that we have finished  
with your temple." The man smiled. "A fine job, if I can say so  
myself. Its been far too long since I got the chance to work with such  
material."  
  
"So, is there anything I need to know?"  
  
"Only that my crew will stop by in the morning to remove the  
construction equipment. We only finished an hour ago, and there wasn't  
time to load it all before it got dark."  
  
"I see." Tomas smiled again. No more living in a tent. This  
kicked ass. "Well then, thank-you for everything. I'm gonna go check  
out my new home."  
  
"Of course. Good night, Shinkyou-san."  
  
"Good night, Suzenka-san."  
  
Suzenka turned to walk away and then turned back. "Oh, we also  
moved your stuff inside." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a set  
of cards. "Here are your keys." The man suddenly looked abashed. "We  
made a number of modern changes to it, I'm afraid. Things like locks,  
the plumbing, and electricity." The man gave an abashed shrug. "If we  
hadn't, most things you buy wouldn't work in the house."  
  
Tomas nodded to the man and took the keys. "No problem. As  
long as it still looks like it did, that should be enough."  
  
As the foreman walked away Tomas turned to the stairs and took a  
single step, only to find the leash tighten and yanked from his loosely  
holding hand. He turned to see the girl on the ground, trembling and  
barely able to even remain in a sitting position.  
  
It didn't take Tomas much time to decide that there was no way  
the girl was going to make it up the stairs any time soon. Moving over  
to her he bent at his knees and scooped the girl up into his arms,  
cradling her gently. He seemed to recall carrying children before, so  
it was an easy motion for him. When the girl tried to push her way out  
of his arms, he spoke quietly. "Stop that. You're not going to make it  
up without me."  
  
In an exhausted voice, she replied "Yes, Master."  
  
Going into a light run, Tomas jogged up the steps, trying his  
best not to jostle the still trembling girl too much. He'd never had a  
reason to run up the steps before, so by the time he reached the top he  
was huffing fairly hard. That didn't stop him from continuing on to the  
Shrine. It just made him decide to start exercising more.  
  
As he moved across the large yard toward the lawn, the girl  
began again to try to push her way out of his arms. He ignored her  
pushing until he reached the doors, at which point he placed her down on  
her trembling legs again. Quickly he swiped one of the keycards through  
the door reader, which clicked open the lock, and pushed open the door.  
  
Moving behind the girl, he gently pushed her into the Shrine,  
his hand reaching out and slapping the wall a few times before it found  
the light switch that had been pointed out to him the day before. The  
lights embedded in the ceiling came on, flooding the room with bright  
light.  
  
The floors were all of hard wood, a rich gold in color. Tomas  
had no clue what type of wood it was, but it was polished to a shine and  
looked pretty damn good. Piled in the middle of the room were the  
various possessions that he'd collected over the weeks. It was  
depressingly small. Tomorrow he'd have to go buy furniture.  
  
"Come on, girl, this way." He pushed the trembling girl forward  
pass the belongings pausing only to kick a towel up into his hands. He  
pushed the trembling girl down the hall and then into a dark room. His  
hand slapped out for the light switch, which came on to reveal a  
bathroom. Taking the towel, he draped it over the girl's shoulder.  
"Take a hot bath and get cleaned up. I'll dig up something clean for  
you to wear and get some food."  
  
The girl still trembling slowly nodded. "Yes, Master."  
  
Tomas grimaced, finally sick of being called Master all the  
time. "My name is Tomas."  
  
"Yes, Master Tomas." The girl's voice was still trembling.  
  
"No, just call me Tomas. Stop with this 'Master' stuff."  
  
The girl nodded again. "Yes, Tomas-sama."  
  
With a growl in his throat, Tomas turned around and headed out  
the door. "We'll work on this later." With that he closed the door to  
let the girl bathe in privacy. Heading down the hall, Tomas pulled out  
the cell phone he'd gotten the week before. He didn't have a stove yet,  
or even a microwave, so cooking was out. That meant take-out.  
  
***  
  
Digging through the box, Tomas tossed various articles of  
clothing aside trying to find something that would fit the girl. He had  
tossed all of his jeans aside as they wouldn't fit her. Not having a  
belt, he had no way to make the waist smaller for her. Finally, he came  
across the one pair of sweatpants that he owned. After a few moments of  
picking at the knot, he got it undone, and pulled the waist string  
apart. That would let the girl tighten the waist enough so that she  
could wear them.  
  
Tossing the sweats into an open space on the floor, keeping them  
away from the pile of non-fitting stuff. With that done, he grabbed the  
few t-shirts he'd placed aside that the girl could wear. Now that he  
had pants for her, he chose the smallest of the shirts to join the sweat  
pants, and tossed the others back into the box.  
  
He was still cleaning up the mess he'd made in finding his  
clothes when a voice behind him made him jump slightly.  
  
"Master."  
  
Turning around, Tomas sighed, "I told you not to call me..." his  
voice trailed off as he looked at the slave girl, who was standing in  
the living room naked. Tomas promptly spun back around and closed his  
eyes. "What the hell are you doing!? Why are you naked?"  
  
"I..." Tomas could hear the hesitation in her voice. "I have no  
clothes. What else was I to do?"  
  
Tomas grimaced. Something told him getting used to this living  
arrangement was going to take awhile. "You could have worn the towel,  
you know. It was clean."  
  
"I...I'm sorry, Master."  
  
Tomas sighed. There was no use, he felt, in getting upset.  
"Look, there's some clothes over there." Tomas waved his hand in the  
direction of the sweats and t-shirt. "Put them on, and let me know when  
you're done, okay?"  
  
"Yes, Master."  
  
"Don't call me Master. Call me Tomas."  
  
"Yes, Tomas-sama."  
  
"No!" Tomas fought down the anger in his voice, but he was sure  
the girl was worried now. "No sama, no san, not even a kun. Just plain  
Tomas, okay?"  
  
"Yes...Tomas. I am dressed now."  
  
Sighing, Tomas turned back around to look at the girl. The  
clothes fit. Sort of. The shirt hung down below her knees and the  
short sleeves went passed her elbows. Over all, though, she was dressed  
fine. Not for public, but here at home it would do.  
  
"Sit down, relax. Food will be here soon, I think." The girl  
sat down quietly under Tomas' watchful gaze. Finally, he realized  
something. "Say, I don't even know your name. What is it?"  
  
The girl gazed down at the floor for awhile before answering  
quietly. "I have no name."  
  
That caught Tomas off guard, and he simply sat there in almost  
wonder. "No name?" He thought about that for a few minutes before  
deciding on something. "Well, pick a name for yourself."  
  
"Pick...my name?"  
  
Tomas nodded. "Yeah. Take your time, think about it, and let  
me know. When you do decide on your name, I'll see what I can do to get  
you your freedom."  
  
"Freedom?" The girl looked up with questioning eyes.  
  
Tomas nodded. "Yeah. The first thing you can do is take that  
collar off. You don't need it anymore."  
  
The girl's hand slowly lifted so that her fingers brushed  
against the brown leather collar around her neck. "Off? But...that's  
against the law. They'll kill me if I take it off! You..." The girl's  
lip began to tremble and she pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms  
around them like a protective shell. "You want to kill me?"  
  
Tomas' hands instantly came up and began shaking. "No, no, no!  
I just don't want you to be a slave anymore. A kid like you shouldn't  
be a slave. Hell, no one should be a slave."  
  
"But...I am a slave. I'm your slave. You bought me."  
  
Tomas gave a tired sigh. "But you won't be. I know some  
people, and I'll make it so you're no longer a slave." At the girl's  
confused look Tomas almost continued, but the doorbell interrupted him.  
"Hang on, that should be the food. Wait here."  
  
Getting to his feet, Tomas headed over to the front door and  
opened it, expecting to see the delivery guy. What he got was empty  
air. Frowning, Tomas walked out of the shrine and down into the yard a  
bit. "Damn it, if this is some punk kid, I'm going to so kick your  
ass!"  
  
Glaring into the darkness, Tomas swore at the fact his eyes  
weren't adjusted for it. He could barely see the edge of the woods.  
Then, hearing something behind him, he spun to glare at what he thought  
were the pranksters.  
  
Instead what confronted him was a monstrosity on the roof of his  
shrine. "Oh shit."  
  
Tomas managed to jump backward in time to avoid the creature's  
attack from the roof. His second jump backward to avoid the follow-up  
attack wasn't so good. His mouth dropped open and blood flew from his  
lips as the thing's fist slammed into his chest. Then it all went  
black.  
Author's Notes: The whole slave thing is something that popped in my   
mind awhile back, but I never found a story idea to use it in. This   
seemed as good a fic as any. Also, I have not decided on who the   
Slave girl is. Almost any anime girl is up for the postion. Feel   
free to email me options. 


	4. Chapter 3

A Dark World  
An SI/Mega X-over  
By Tomas Megarson  
  
Disclaimer: I disclaim everything that I don't own.  
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com  
See my page at:   
Chapter 3  
  
Flash.  
  
Pulling himself from his bed, a young boy of three blinked his  
eyes trying to clear the sleep from them. This took little time for  
him, for he was a morning child. With quick steps and his pajama  
bottoms around his feet, he went through the door and stood at the top  
of the stairs gazing down into the dining room at the bottom. He  
could hear his mother down in the kitchen that was by the stairs.  
  
Closing his eyes the boy wished hard, the thought running  
through his mind was "I wanna fly". Sometimes it worked, sometimes it  
didn't. Hoping it would work today the boy jumped. Like he had so  
many times before it seemed as though something wrapped its arms  
around him and lifted him to the ceiling. Opening his eyes and with a  
grin he reached out and pressed his small hands against the white  
ceiling and ran them along the white walls as he gently floated down  
to the green carpet. When his feet hit the ground on the other side  
of the room, he turned and ran to the kitchen to find out what was for  
breakfast.  
  
Flash.  
  
Running through the darken graveyard, the boy now seven and a  
girl of six dashed through the shadow of the church behind them. It  
was the weekend before Halloween and as always, the church had done  
its haunted house. Having finished and helped clean up, the kids had  
retreated to play Ghosts in the Graveyard while the parents talked  
inside.  
  
Flowing through the shadows as quick as their small legs could  
carry them, the two friends ran toward the back and ducked down behind  
a large gravestone big enough for them both. The two grinned at each  
other, always happy to get a chance to play.  
  
It was then, waiting in the cold silence of the night that a  
chill swept them both, causing them to shiver. With the shiver the  
came over both the silence was no longer welcome, the darkness was  
filled with monsters in the shadows, and their imaginations took hold.  
As the girl began to cry and the boy barely kept tears back, the two  
stood as one and took off back to the church, back to safety.  
  
Flash.  
  
Lying in bed on his birthday, the boy who just turned eight  
wished he'd stop shaking. He hated the shaking the most. Not being  
able to eat hurt, too. Especially on his birthday. He wanted cake  
and ice cream, not water and that evil syrup stuff. The boy pulled  
his legs up and wrapped his arms around them, still shivering despite  
wearing three sets of clothes and being buried under blankets.  
  
His eyes drifted to the large window over his desk and watched  
the snow gently falling. His eyes could only watch that bit of  
freedom for a few moments before he turned around and grabbed his  
stuffed dinosaur. He didn't want to be sick like this. He wanted to  
see his friends.  
  
Flash.  
  
Still of eight, the boy stood on the grass of the lawn looking  
at his oldest friend, the girl of seven. This could be, he thought,  
the last time he ever saw her. And that hurt a lot. Not a day ago  
he'd told his best friend to watch out for her. And that hurt a lot  
two, like it was killing his heart. He understood love fairly well,  
and he was sure he loved the girl. And now he was forced to leave  
her.  
  
He covered the space between them in a single step and wrapped  
his arms around her in a tight hug. His head lowered into her blond  
hair, taking in the feeling of it as a last memory. Finally, though,  
he heard his parents call for him, and he let her go and stepped back.  
  
"Bye Brin." His voice was choked up as he spoke those words,  
the tears falling down his face.  
  
"Bye, Tom." Brine gave him a small wave.  
  
Flash.  
  
Laying on his bed, the boy now thirteen and starting to look  
like the man he'd become stared at the light blue ceiling of his  
bedroom. His small stereo was playing a CD who's music he paid no  
attention to.  
  
"I don't need friends. To hell with them all."  
  
The words were either stupid or brave, but he thought they  
were true. He was sure he could be strong enough to go on without  
friends. Those jerks sure didn't give a damn about him. And as the  
tears fell down his face, his emotions were slowly sealed.  
  
Flash.  
  
Using a hand to help himself hop over the back of a bench, the  
young man now of 18 sat down next to a young woman with long pale  
blond hair and grinned at her. "Heya Dessi, it's been awhile! How  
have ya been?"  
  
The girl turned her head from her book and smiled at the man.  
"Hi Tom. I'm doing good. You?"  
  
"Well," the young man shrugged, "I guess I'm okay." The grin  
slid from his face to its normal somber expression. "A bit sad,  
though. After all we're all going to be splitting up soon." His hand  
waved out to take in the entire park which was filled with his high  
school graduating class.  
  
"Yeah, it is a bit hard to believe."  
  
Before the man could say anything else, he felt more then he  
saw something heading toward his head. Turning slightly, his hands  
came up and barely managed to slow the football before it hit him in  
the face, knocking him slightly into the woman. He brought the ball  
down and rubbed the spot where it hit. The giggling beside him did  
little to sooth his wounded pride.  
  
"Hey Tom, come on, we're gonna play some football!"  
  
Shaking his head in amusement, the young man waved. "Sure  
Todd, be right there." Turning to the woman, he grinned. "Guess I  
gotta go. Do me a favor, come grab me when they got lunch cooked up.  
I wanna talk some more."  
  
"Of course," the woman said with a laugh.  
  
Flash.  
  
"Well, I guess this is it."  
  
The young man stood up from his sitting place on his new bed  
in the dorm he was moving into. His new roommate hadn't showed up  
yet, so he'd gotten his choice of everything. Looking at his father  
he smiled. "Thanks for the help, Pop."  
  
"Don't call me that."  
  
With a laugh, the man grabbed his father into a hug. "Sure  
old man, you take care and have a safe drive back home."  
  
"Are you going to be alright?"  
  
"Yeah, dad, I'll be fine." Breaking the hug he walked his  
father out the door before heading back into his dorm room. "And now  
I'm home." With a long sigh, he shook his head and went back to  
putting everything away.  
  
Flash.  
  
Walking down the dark pathway, the young man shoved his hands  
into the pockets of his denim jacket. Glancing up at the clock on the  
tower of the Main Library down the Oval, he sighed. After 1 AM on a  
Wednesday, or Thursday as it was now, and he still couldn't sleep. He  
was too pumped up with nerves from midterms. At least he didn't have  
any tomorrow. Or today, rather. Still, the fact that this was  
screwing up his internal clock bit hard.  
  
Well, at least for a walk, it was a good night for it. A warm  
front had come through, so the November wind wasn't too cold, and the  
sky was cloudless and filled with stars. As he gazed at the night sky  
he let his feet carry him down the long, familiar path toward home.  
As he watched the sky a smile came to his face as he saw a shooting  
star.  
  
On a whim, he spoke, "I wish that my life had some excitement  
to it. That I could have an adventure, a chance to make a real  
difference in my life."  
  
The words barely left his mouth when the pain hit him, and he  
felt the world fall our from under him.  
  
Flash.  
  
***  
  
Opening his eyes and standing up with a pain filled groan, Tomas was  
prepared to do some serious damage to the boomer that had already  
turned its back to him. Now that he knew who he was and had a firm  
grasp on where he was, he was eager to see what he could do. Given  
he'd already defeated a number of boomers on his arrival, one more  
wouldn't be a problem. Then he could have some real fun. Looking  
down so he could get good footing, something caught his eye. He  
quickly turned to see what it was.  
  
He stared down at the body before him. The chest was caved in, the  
face was a mess, and there was a pool of blood forming underneath it.  
Despite all that though, he knew exactly who it was. And he was in  
shock.  
  
"I'm dead?" Tomas was staring at what was left of his face. And, as  
any normal person would be, he was in shock. "I can't be dead."  
Denial was a common human response when things went wrong. And boy,  
had things gone wrong.  
  
"But...I'm like...a frigging SI. I can't be dead. SI characters  
don't get killed. Not like this. Not so soon, anyway. Hell, I never  
even stumbled across Beryl or the Dragon Line, or anything cool."  
  
"I'm dead. I'm fucking dead. I can't be fucking dead. I'm a  
goddamned SI. An SI can NOT die like this. It goes against all the  
rules." Thinking for a few moments to various TV shows he'd seen, he  
grinned. "Near death experience, then. I can live with that.  
Someone will come along and fix me soon enough. I just gotta wait."  
  
Had the other players in the little drama that was unfolding known  
about those rules, then perhaps Tomas wouldn't have been placed in  
this situation. This was not the case. Of course, the boomer that  
killed Tomas probably wouldn't have played by the rules anyway and  
nothing would have changed. As it was, he blinked as the boomer  
seemed to walk right through him, and then step on his body's neck,  
causing the head to pop off in a bloody mess.  
  
"Well shit." And then his brain shut down.  
  
It wasn't like he hadn't thought about dying before. There had been  
one time when he was younger when he'd almost been killed four times  
in a single day. As he got older he realized how big an impact death  
was, and what being alive really meant. These thoughts caused him to  
think and to wonder under what circumstances would he be willing to  
die. Having a robot turned monster cave his chest in was not one of  
the situations he came up with. And boy, did it ever suck.  
  
The arrival of a pair of armored chicks didn't cause Tomas to even  
stir. Truth of the matter he didn't even see them. He was still too  
busy trying to wrap his mind over the fact that he was staring at his  
headless body on the ground. It was then when something pink and  
female flew through his insubstantial chest with no harm or gore  
effects but slammed into and through the tree that his real body was  
crumpled under.  
  
The tree, predictably, fell forward, crushing what was left of  
Tomas' corpse under it. Unable to view the grizzly scene of his own  
demise any longer, Tomas snapped out of the dumbed state he was in.  
With a bemuse expression he walked through the branches of the tree  
that had fallen and back into the yard. He watched with amusement as  
a pair of Knight Sabers battled the boomer. As the pair destroyed it,  
he dropped down to sit on the ground. "Well, this has been fun. I  
want to go home now."  
  
"You can't do that."  
  
"Well no fucking duh. Being dead does kind of screw that up, doesn't  
it?" Tomas' tone had quickly turned sarcastic.  
  
"You shouldn't swear like that!"  
  
"Look, lady, I'm fucking dead. Not hurt, not maimed, but god damned  
dead. This has NOT been a good day. Just fuck it all."  
  
The annoyed female voice replied, "Don't swear like that, its not  
polite."  
  
"I'm fucking dead lady. Like it matters if I'm polite or not. Who  
the hell's gonna give a damn?"  
  
Tomas' body bent forward as something hard slammed across the back of  
his head. "I said don't swear!"  
  
"The fuck! You hit me!" Another hard crack slammed into the side of  
Tomas' head, his body sprawling out of the sitting position so his  
face was in the dirt. "Goddamn it, stop that you bitch!" A third  
blow actually managed to bring Tomas back into his sitting position.  
Growling, Tomas did his best to shove the pain aside and pushed  
himself to his feet. "Damn it all, you little whore!" Tomas managed  
to get himself turned around in time to receive a blow into his  
stomach, causing him to buckle over. As he coughed, choked, and tried  
to puke his guts out from the blow, something occurred to Tomas. He  
was dead, and he was feeling pain. "The fuck?" The next blow slammed  
him into the ground and a follow up shook him up a bit more just for  
good measure.  
  
Lying sprawled out on the ground, Tomas slowly brought his mind into  
focus, this time somehow managing to keep his mouth closed while doing  
so. Unfortunately, this did nothing to help him figure out what was  
going on. And so, still not sure what to do (besides not swear) Tomas  
again pushed himself to his feet. "Okay, okay, you win."  
  
As Tomas did his best to gather himself, he took in the woman before  
him. Or rather, the girl as he got a better look. She had long blue  
hair and was dressed in a bright pink kimono. The wooden paddle she  
held seemed somewhat out of place, but he did he best to ignore the  
thing. As he took the girl's features in more, he blinked and pointed  
at her. "Hey, I know you. Botan-chan, right?"  
  
"Yes, I am." Botan gave a wide smile. "I'm here to take you  
to your next life. I'm surprised you know my name, most people don't.  
And can I have your name? Your death was unscheduled."  
  
"Yeah, well, I read manga, ya know? The name's Thomas  
Bradford Megarson. So, I'm going to hell, right?" Despite the  
statement, Tomas didn't sound to scared or worried. It sounded as  
though he was simply trying to make the best of the situation.  
  
"Manga? I've never come across my name in any I've seen."  
Botan said as she flipped through a black book, a frown on her face  
now.  
  
Walking around behind her, Tomas looked over the girl's  
shoulder. "Umm...did I screw up my life so bad even you can't stand  
looking at it?" Now, Tomas was starting to get a bit worried. It had  
to be something bad to upset Death, after all.  
  
"No, no, it's just..." Botan trailed off as she continued to  
scan through the pages of her book. "Argh, you're not in here.  
That's not possible!" Botan spun around and looked into Tomas' face.  
"Did you give me your real name?"  
  
"I gave you the name my parents gave me when I was born. You  
want my US social security number?"  
  
Botan shook her head. "No, that wouldn't help me at all."  
Giving a frustrating sigh, Botan closed the book. "We'll just have to  
go up there and straighten it all out. Come on." Sitting down on her  
paddle Botan rose into the sky and began to float off. She was almost  
four stories in the air when she looked back to see Tomas still  
standing where he had been. "What are you waiting for? Come on!"  
  
Tomas returned to her a flat look, though he didn't know if  
she could see it at that distance. "I can't fly."  
  
"You're a spirit now. Of course you can fly. Get up here!"  
  
"Look, I've been trying since you started to float off. I  
can't fly. I can jump, but not fly." So saying, Tomas jumped  
straight up and promptly dropped straight back to the ground. "See."  
  
With a sigh, Botan floated back down and stared at Tomas hard.  
  
"What?"  
  
With a sigh, Botan held out a hand. "Here, hold my hand and  
I'll drag you there. And when you get some time, find another spirit  
to teach you how to fly, okay?"  
  
With a shrug and a nod, Tomas agreed as he took Botan's hand.  
"Sure thing, will do." In truth, he hadn't tried to fly at all. He'd  
ended up right where he wanted to be, and as Botan dragged him to the  
gates of the after life, he was rather content.  
  
***  
  
Gazing up at the giant gates before him, Tomas was forced to  
simply shrug. "Not bad. Bit gaudy for my tastes, but not bad."  
  
The gates being commented on towered above and beyond anything  
Tomas had see on hinges before. They had ornate carvings on them and  
what seemed to be either scriptures in some language he couldn't  
understand or were merely a bunch of pretty scribblings. If he had  
cared enough about it, he would have asked. The gates seemed to be  
made of a mix of gold and platinum, and shone bright as they stood  
upon the cloudbank.  
  
Looking at Tomas, Botan frowned. "Do you always act like  
this?"  
  
"Pretty much, yeah." Taking his gaze from the gates, Tomas  
got his first look of heaven/hell/or wherever this place was, as they  
slowly swung open. "I figured out awhile back that if I looked at my  
life and the world seriously, I'd probably break down. I did that  
once, and it was not fun, so I'm trying to avoid it."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Well, that or my old man just raised me funny."  
  
Botan gave Tomas a cross look, before walking through the  
gates. With a shrug, Tomas followed her, taking in the scene. He was  
forced to blink hard as the massive gates led into what seemed to be a  
room in any business he'd seen.  
  
There were scatterings of desks with strange looking creatures  
of various colors sitting at them, going through stacks of paper work.  
Still other creatures were carrying binders and folders and stacks of  
more papers through the room, some going through doors, others  
dropping things off at desks, and there was the one with nothing but a  
coffee mug just shuffling around.  
  
As Botan led Tomas through the halls of heaven, he commented,  
"This is not what I was expecting."  
  
"What were you expecting?"  
  
Looking around, Tomas shrugged. "I don't know, angels, maybe  
a few gods and goddesses wandering around. Things that at least  
looked kinda human." Thinking it over for a second, he sighed. "I  
guess I'm just bias or something. No big deal."  
  
"I see." Opening another door, Botan stepped aside and waved  
Tomas to go through. "We're here. Be on your best behavior in front  
of Koenma."  
  
"Yup, got it." Walking through the door, Tomas let his gaze  
drift around the large office. There were a couple of desks toward  
the front with two more of those demon looking things working away at  
them. Toward the rear of the room by a large window was a huge wooden  
desk with a large black leather chair behind it facing away. Figuring  
that was were to go, Tomas walking between the two desks in front and  
came to a halt in front of the third. He stood there quietly until  
the chair turned around. Seated in the chair was what seemed to be a  
three-year-old boy dressed in blue and sucking on a pacifier. Looking  
at the scene, Tomas could only shake his head. "This is too weird."  
  
"What was that?" The boy's voice was the high pitch sound of  
a kid about his age, and it grated on Tomas' ears. The kid managed to  
speak without removing the pacifier, which Tomas thought must have  
taken a long time to master.  
  
Still, Tomas never was one to follow in another's footsteps,  
and so he didn't go the insulting rout with his response. "Nothing  
sir, I just was expecting you to be more impressive."  
  
"Hmph. If you want impressive you should see my father. I'm  
still a growing boy, you know." Looking past Tomas, Koenma continued,  
"Botan, this is the one with no marker in your book?"  
  
"That's right. I was hoping you could figure out what to do  
with him."  
  
"Yes, well, I contacted records. They should be up here with  
his full file anytime." Leaning back in the chair, Koenma continued,  
"So, how is the mortal realm been lately?"  
  
"It sucked." Tomas cut in before Botan could respond, not  
wanting to be forgotten. "But then, my judgment could be clouded  
given a robot just slaughtered me a half hour ago."  
  
"Yes," Koenma said nodding slowly, "that could cause  
problems." Looking up as green man-like creature with a horn walked  
through, "Ah, good, you have the file. Give it here, give it here."  
  
"Here you go, Koenma-sama. Its everything we have on this  
mortal." The creature handed over the file and immediately began  
heading for the door. It had almost made it when Koenma's cry of halt  
reached it's ears. Turning back, it swallowed.  
  
"This is all we have!?"  
  
"Yes, Koenma-sama, its everything we have on this human."  
  
"But...but..." Koenma was slightly trembling, and Tomas,  
standing off to the side didn't take this as a good sign. "Its not  
even a full page! And it's double spaced!" With almost a growl of  
rage, Koenma threw the single piece of paper to the ground. "Just get  
out!" The creature hurriedly did so.  
  
Tomas and Botan stood quietly next to each other as Koenma  
spent long minuets sitting in his chair muttering under his breath.  
Tomas wanted to get a chance to look at the one page that told the  
story of his life, but he didn't want to risk doing anything that  
could make Koenma angrier. With the way this was going, though, he  
was sure he was going to hell now.  
  
Eventually the muttering stopped and Koenma turned his  
attention to Tomas. "Did you know you weren't even born?"  
  
"What?" Tomas looked stupefied now. "I was too born. I've  
seen my birth certificate."  
  
"Not according to this," Koenma waved at the paper, "and this  
is completely accurate."  
  
Even as Botan picked up the paper to read it, Tomas stared  
hard at the small god. "Then how did I end up living huh? Explain to  
me that, if your dumb paper is so accurate!" With everything that had  
happen and was still happening, Tomas was getting a very bad feeling,  
and it only served to make him angry.  
  
"According to this," Botan's soft voice replied, "you were  
created, well forged my be a better term, by a rift in reality."  
  
Blinking at the answer, Tomas' anger drifted away. "Huh?"  
  
Koenma was the one who answered. "Rifts happen when two  
universe collide with each other. They're fairly rare, and only last  
very brief moments. One of these rifts created you."  
  
Finally, Tomas' legs couldn't handle the shock anymore and  
collapsed under him. He would have hit the ground hard had he not  
stopped halfway there and simply floated, his mind completely blank.  
  
Looking at her boss, Botan inquired, "What do we do now?"  
  
Sighing, Koenma slouched in his chair. "We leave him until  
Father gets back from vacation. He'll know what to do. Botan, take  
him to a guestroom. He can do temp work here until Father returns."  
  
"Alright Koenma. This way, Tomas." Turning, Botan head for  
the door. She had almost made it when Koenma's voice calling her name  
caused her to turn around. Seeing Tomas still floating in one place  
like a statue, she sighed, walked over to him and grabbed his ear.  
"Why do you have to make more work for me?" she asked as she dragged  
him out of the office.  
  
***  
  
It was a short time later that Tomas' brain shook itself from  
its stupefied state and began regular function again. The first thing  
it noticed was pain. "Ow, ow, ow! Leggo of my ear!" Planting his  
feet on the ground again, Tomas pulled back and yanked his ear out of  
Botan's grip. A hand immediately came up to cover it. "Man, I didn't  
think I could feel pain once I died!"  
  
Rolling her eyes, Botan turned to gaze at Tomas. "You can't.  
Not pain caused by mortals, anyway."  
  
"Yeah, okay, got it. Bit late, but I got it." Looking around  
at the plain white hallway with various doorways in it, Tomas  
continued, "Where are we, anyway? And, uh, what's going on?"  
  
"If you had been paying attention you'd know."  
  
"Sorry," Tomas said as Botan turned her back on him and  
continued. "I had problems coming to grips with the fact I'm never  
gonna see my family again, even when they die."  
  
"I understand. Anyway, we're heading for the guest quarters.  
Koenma decided that he should let his Father deal with you since  
there's not enough information to send you to either Hell or Heaven.  
When he returns, your after life will be decided. Until then, you'll  
do temp work around here."  
  
"Ugg," Tomas groaned, "I hate temp work." Sighing, "Oh well,  
I've done it before. It won't kill me."  
  
"Of course it won't, you're already dead."  
  
"Oops, forgot that." Tomas drifted into silence and took in  
the almost total lack of scenery. Botan, staying in front and quiet  
as well, never caught the questioning looks he made into the rooms  
with the doors open.  
  
Some of the rooms had various suits of armor, others strangely  
shaped objects glowing with some kind of power Tomas didn't recognize.  
Looking into another room, he stopped, his body turning so he could  
face it fully.  
  
In the back of the room was a stone the size of a basketball  
with a simple design that appeared to be a robed figure swinging a  
scythe glowing on its face. Tomas stared at the object, completely  
ignoring the fact that Botan had turned a corner and walked out of  
site. As he slowly stepped through the doorway and into the room, he  
whispered to himself, "I recognize that. Soul Eater."  
  
A grin came to Tomas' face as he walked over to the Seal Stone  
holding the True Rune of Life and Death, the rune that governs who  
lives and who dies. "This is so damn cool." The whisper grew in  
sound and a touch of a laugh entered his throat, and it wasn't a nice  
one. "I wonder..."  
  
After a brief thought, Tomas decided that since he was already  
dead touching the seal stone couldn't cause him any problems.  
Reaching out, Tomas placed his hand on the face of the Rune. When the  
bright white light covered him, his eyes were wide in shock, and his  
head exploded with pain.  
  
***  
  
Opening his eyes and thankful the blinding light was gone,  
Tomas' right hand switched from shielding his eyes to holding his  
throbbing head. He needed an Aspirin or ten. His right arm was  
growing tired, however, and he wondered how long he'd been holding it  
up. Reaching up with his left hand he switched which was holding his  
pain filled head and dropped his right hand.  
  
The right hand came back up quickly, however, as he saw the  
tattoo emblazed on it. It was a mix of reds, golds, and purples, and  
it looked exactly like Soul Eater should. Raising his head to stare  
at the seal stone, he stumbled backward and fell on his rear. He was  
no longer in the room, or in whatever the place was that Koenma worked  
at. Twenty-five yards in front of him was the shrine he had had  
rebuilt.  
  
Pushing himself to his feet, Tomas' head whipped around,  
taking in the grounds. The marks of the boomer fight were gone, none  
of the trees were broken and on the ground, and there was no  
construction equipment to be seen. "The hell..."  
  
"DADDY!"  
  
Tomas spun back around to face the shrine, making it just in  
time to have a young blond hair girl fling herself into a flying leap  
and hitting him in the chest, knocking him back to the ground.  
  
"Daddy!" The girl was practically crying as she buried her  
head into him, "You're home early!"  
Author's Notes: Welp, there goes chapter 3 of this thing. Been a  
long time coming, but it took effort to get around to writing  
anything. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Cya chapter 4. 


	5. Chapter 4

A Dark World  
An SI/Mega X-over  
By Tomas Megarson  
  
Disclaimer: I disclaim everything that I don't own.  
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com  
See my page at:   
  
Note: The anime character who've I decided to use as "the girl" is  
probably not all that well known. As such at the end of the story  
I've included a brief bio about her and her early appearance in the  
manga she's from. If you wish to read that first, go ahead, but it  
will spoil the revelation in the story. I suggest you wait until the  
story has named her before you read it.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
A cool spring air carrying the scent of sakura floated through  
the sky and the shining light of the early afternoon sun beating from  
the west left a warm feeling on those who were beneath it. The faint  
sound of a few passing cars on the distant street drifted up the hill  
and across the yard of the Hikawa shrine, the quiet rumble of traffic  
the only disturbance in what seemed to be a peaceful day.  
  
Sitting on the ground with his feet sprawled before him, Tomas  
gazed down onto the crown of the head of the blonde child clinging to  
him. He couldn't see her face, but the crushing hug was a clear sign  
that she was happy to see him.  
  
Unfortunately, that didn't register in Tomas' mind. While he  
was proud of his ability to adapt and even more so of his ability to  
just wing any situation without burying himself too badly, this time  
his mind gave a dying croak when it tried to shift gears. In the past  
few hours he'd had to shift, adapt, and fight to keep his sanity in  
the unbelievable situation he'd found himself in too many times. And  
now that entire portion of his mind gave out.  
  
"Since when the hell do I have a kid?" Tact, it appeared, had  
also decided to flee the scene.  
  
The young girl pulled herself back from Tomas and gazed at him  
happily. There was a laugh in her voice as she replied, "Stop making  
jokes, daddy."  
  
"Look kiddo," Tomas said with a slight growl in his voice. "I  
ain't joking. There's no way in hell I got a kid."  
  
Slowly the girl released Tomas and stood up, taking a step  
back so he could get to his feet as well. Concern was flooding her  
eyes like high tide during a hurricane. Ever so quietly she asked,  
"Daddy, are you alright?"  
  
"Stop calling me that!" came the snapped response from Tomas.  
"And for your information, no, I'm not alright! First I find out I'm  
in some kind of alternate dimension! Then I get to watch myself get  
decapitated in an unnecessarily gory fashion, only to learn the  
afterlife's got no place for me!" The girl was a mix of tears and  
strange looks, but Tomas noticed none of that. "And now some other  
shit's happened and I find out I got some kid calling herself my  
daughter." Spinning away from the girl, Tomas screamed at the sky,  
"This is no my god damned day!"  
  
The girl's face had warm tears running down it as Tomas  
continued swearing at the sky. Something was wrong with her daddy and  
she couldn't think of what to do. As the ranting continued to from  
Tomas' mouth, she finally decided that the problem was with his head.  
She was a young girl, only 10 years old, but she was extraordinarily  
intelligent and read as many books as she could get her hands on.  
There many cases in the stories she had read that a hit on the head  
would cure someone with memory problems. It was the only option she  
had. Raising her right arm, it quickly reformed into a giant steel  
sword, the work of her special powers. She knew her daddy asked her  
not to use them if she didn't have too, but she didn't see any other  
choice.  
  
Still facing the other way and yelling curses at the sky,  
Tomas never saw the flat of the blade come down and slam into the back  
of his head, knocking him unconscious.  
  
***  
  
Blinking his eyes opened, Tomas wondered just why it was that  
every time he woke up his head hurt. It was starting to get to be a  
really bad habit. Getting his eyes opened, he stared up at the  
ceiling above him for a bit before he smirked. "Unfamiliar ceiling.  
Heh." He'd waited a long time to get to steal that line.  
  
Forcing himself up and swinging his legs over the side of the  
bed, Tomas dropped his elbows onto his knees and his head into his  
hands. Despite the dull throbbing that was still going on and a  
serious need of a Tylenol or twelve, he managed to replay what  
happened before he lost the world again. "Smooth move, asshole," he  
whispered to himself. Damn, but he'd handled dying better then he  
ended up handling whatever the hell this was. Life, he supposed,  
given the girl hadn't acted like any Undead he'd read about. Then  
again...he never did get into those types of books.  
  
"Daddy?"  
  
The hesitant voice caused Tomas to raise his head and look at  
the girl. This time he looked hard at her, slowly getting a sinking  
feeling as her features matched yet another character from a manga  
he'd read. Licking his dry lips, he tried out her name, giving a  
mental prayer he was wrong. "Eve?" His voice was hesitant and rough  
as he forced the name out of his throat.  
  
The girl's nod and continuous worried looks caused him to  
swallow even though his throat was parched. This was bad. What the  
hell was Eve doing here and calling him daddy? She should have been  
either an emotionless doll with that psycho-weapons merchant, or she  
should have been with Train and Sven acting as a sweeper. Damn, this  
was bad. If any of those three thought he'd kidnapped her and messed  
with her mind, he was dead. That wasn't something he really wanted to  
do again.  
  
Tomas' head dropped back into his hands for a moment as he  
wondered just what he'd done to end up with this life. His head came  
back up and he gazed at his right hand, or rather the Rune embedded in  
it. He recalled that besides the cool magic powers and the non-aging  
stuff that went with one of these, there was some saying like fate  
revolved around those who bore a True Rune. Damn, but touching the  
thing had been stupid.  
  
With a sigh he shoved all those currently useless thoughts  
aside and turned his attention back to Eve. Her blond hair reached  
down the entire back of her thin, eleven year old frame. She was  
perhaps 4'3 or so and her large red-brown eyes were filled with worry  
as her intense, though nervous gaze took him in. The black long  
sleeve shirt and short black skirt she wore seemed to emphasize the  
depression it was clear she was feeling.  
  
Taking in her gaze, Tomas knew he couldn't shove her away and  
try to escape the situation he was in. He wasn't sure what would  
happen, and doubted it'd be pleasant, but he wasn't going to leave  
Eve. Damn his conscious, his sense of responsibility, and whatever  
the hell it was that was about to make him play a part he knew he  
wasn't ready for. Reaching out his arms to the girl, his voice no  
longer rough, he said, "Come here, kiddo. I'm alright now."  
  
Almost tentatively, Eve's short steps brought her to Tomas.  
Her face and body relaxed, however, when he pulled her up onto the bed  
and gave her a calming hug. "You're okay now?"  
  
"Yeah, I am." Knowing he needed some excuse for what had  
happened outside he quickly thought up a small lie. "I had a really,  
really bad day. All the stress from work just got to me, and, well,  
messed up my mind, I suppose."  
  
Eve's face turned up so that her intelligent gaze could take  
him in. Seeing those eyes he had to remind himself that the girl was  
extremely bright, and the hyperness she'd shown before wasn't what he  
knew of as in character for her. "Was work that bad?"  
  
"Worse," came Tomas' reply. But at least that told him  
something. He had been working, so there were responsibilities he'd  
have to find out. Or, a bright idea came to him; there were  
responsibilities he could ignore. "I ended up quitting, which is why  
I got home early."  
  
"You...quit? But, what about..."  
  
"Hey, Eve, don't worry about it. I got it covered." Or,  
rather, Tomas would if he still had that cool little black thing that  
let him swipe money from ATMs. He wasn't wearing his denim jacket,  
though, which is where the thing was last. "I've got enough money  
saved up for us to live on for a good year or two, and I've got some  
old jobs I can fall back on. The only difference you'll notice is  
that I'll be home to spend more time with you."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, really." Standing up, Tomas smiled at the girl, hoping  
she wasn't seeing through his BS. He'd always been told that you  
couldn't lie to a kid, but it seemed like he didn't have any problems.  
"Let's go see about supper, huh?"  
  
"Yay!" Jumping off the bed, Eve grabbed Tomas' hand and began  
pulling him to the door of the bedroom. "Rei-san is making dinner.  
Come on, come on!"  
  
Tomas tried to use his greater weight to hold him still as  
that bit of information sunk in. Eve, however, was stronger then she  
looked and managed to force Tomas to walk with her. "Wait a second  
Eve, what's Rei doing here?"  
  
Turning her gaze up at her father, Eve blinked. "Watching me  
while you were off at work. Don't you remember?" Maybe her father  
wasn't alright after all.  
  
"I meant still, here," Tomas said quickly, trying to cover  
himself and thankful that Eve hadn't said Rei lived here. He wouldn't  
know what to do if this hadn't been his home. "I'm home, after all."  
  
"Oh," Eve smiled as she answered the question, "Since you were  
sleeping she decided she'd stay and make dinner. We didn't know when  
you'd get up."  
  
"Ah, okay," Tomas mumbled as the walking pair passed a mirror.  
Looking into it, he realized that he was younger then he should have  
been. The almost total lack of facial hair reminded him of when he  
was in high school and only had to shave once a week or so. How the  
hell, he wondered once more, did he end up as Eve's daddy at this age.  
  
Following Eve through a door, Tomas arrived in the Kitchen and  
took it in. It was just like it had been when he'd last seen it but  
with the addition of furniture and other standard kitchen things like  
a coffee maker. And standing at the stove was the form of Rei, her  
long black hair hanging loosely down her back.  
  
Letting go of Tomas' hand, Eve practically skipped up to the  
stove and peered past Rei trying to see what the older girl was  
cooking. "Daddy's up," her once more cheerful voice said. "What's  
for dinner?"  
  
"Hmm?" Rei's head tilted down to Eve and she gave a smile.  
"Food, of course. Go sit at the table." Turning around with a tray  
in her hands, Rei gave Tomas a smile as well. "I'm glad to see you're  
up."  
  
Tomas said the first thing that came to mind. "Yuck,  
mushrooms." The serving plate of food held his attention more then  
Rei did, mostly because one of his most hated foods was predominantly  
on it. "I can't stand mushrooms."  
  
Rei blinked at the comment and a frown crossed her face. "I'm  
sorry, I didn't know. I can make you something else," she offered.  
  
"Naw, don't bother. You and Eve sit down and eat. I can cook  
my own food," came Tomas' reply as he headed toward the cupboards.  
  
"Umm..." Rei carried the platter to the table and set it down,  
Eve happily grabbing the large scooping spoon and putting some on her  
plate. Rei was still a bit curious as to why Tomas had an American  
style kitchen with a tall table and chairs rather then the traditional  
Japanese one, but she didn't let it bother her too much. "Are you  
sure about that? Eve told me you couldn't cook."  
  
Tomas ignored the nasty look Eve gave Rei as he waved her  
aside. Apparently that hadn't been something the girl wanted to  
share. It didn't bother him too much though. "Sit and enjoy your  
cooking Rei. I'm a fairly good cook. I can cook English, American,  
Hungarian, Irish, Italian, and make some real mean desserts." Moving  
to the freezer, Tomas opened it and ruffled through, finally pulling  
out a package of Italian sausages. "I just don't do Japanese, that's  
all."  
  
"Oh," Rei said as she sat down next to Eve, "I see." The  
kitchen grew quiet for a moment as Tomas hunted around in the  
refrigerator for a pepper. Finally, Rei asked, "So, why did you get  
home early? You told me you were going to be out of town for another  
two days."  
  
Finally finding a red pepper buried under a bunch of other  
vegetables, Tomas came back up wondering what was going on. He had  
more expected her to realize he'd been killed then saying he was off  
on business. And now that he thought about it, Eve's changing from  
calling him master to daddy was insanely strange too. This was just  
so wrong.  
  
"Um, Tomas? Are you alright?"  
  
Shaking his head and closing the fridge's door, he sighed and  
began to lie once more. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm home early because work  
kept getting worse and worse, so I quit."  
  
"You quit?" Rei's voice was filled with surprise as she  
paused in her eating. "It must have been pretty bad, then."  
  
"It was worse," Tomas said as he pulled out a frying pan, "way  
worse. Still, this way I get to spend more time at home."  
  
"Well, there is that, but, how are you going to pay your  
bills? And what are you making?"  
  
Going through a nearby pantry, Tomas was glad he managed to  
pick the one with the oil on his first try. Pulling it out, he  
returned to the stove where he'd left everything else. "I've got  
enough save for now and I can always fall back on my old job. As for  
what I'm cooking, it's sausage and peppers. Good food."  
  
"Oh. So, what was your old job?" Tomas had never really  
talked to much about himself to her, and Rei was glad that for once he  
was opening up. Maybe it had to do with whatever happened to him  
while he'd been at work.  
  
Tossing the diced sausage into the now hot pan, Tomas replied,  
"I was a thief." Looking at his pan, Tomas blinked. Crap, he hadn't  
wanted to say that.  
  
"What?" came the disbelieving question behind him.  
  
Shrugging his shoulders, Tomas replied with a question of his  
own. "Why's that so surprising?"  
  
"Well," Rei stopped and grabbed her head with her hand.  
"What the..." Rei's eyes blinked rapidly as she drifted into deep  
thought for a moment.  
  
Looking up from her now finished dinner, Eve inquired, "What's  
wrong Rei-san?"  
  
"Its alright, Eve-chan. I just had a funny feeling, like I've  
had this conversation before." Rei continued to frown in thought,  
though she also began to pick at her food and slowly eat it.  
  
Standing by the stove, Tomas managed to contain his sigh of  
relief. The conversation, he recalled, had happened the day he'd been  
killed. He hoped that had just been the day before and someone had  
screwed with Rei and Eve's minds to help him out here. As he  
continued to cook up his own dinner, for what seemed to be the  
hundredth time, Tomas wondered just what he was doing.  
  
***  
  
Sliding open the shrine's door, the three who had just enjoyed  
dinner together stepped out into the early evening. There was still a  
touch of light in the west from the setting sun as the trio walked  
down the single step that led to the ground.  
  
Tomas was glad this was over. He'd spent most of the meal  
dodging questions from Rei about his being a thief. It wasn't  
something he had wanted to go into, and he wasn't even really sure it  
mattered anymore, given how everything seemed different now. He was  
still curious about all the furniture since he hadn't had a chance to  
buy any yet.  
  
"Well, I guess if you're not working now, I don't need to pick  
up Eve after school."  
  
Looking at Rei, Tomas nodded. "I really appreciate all the  
help you've given me Rei, but I can handle things here. For awhile at  
least."  
  
"Well, you're doing better then I would in your situation."  
Rei shrugged and began to walk away before turning back around. "Can  
I make a suggestion?"  
  
With a nod, Tomas agreed, "Suggest away."  
  
"Why don't you see about going back to school?" Rei got  
nervous for a moment her eyes seeming to look anywhere but at Tomas.  
"You're only a couple of years older then me, and you could do better  
for yourself and Eve if you finish high school."  
  
Tomas was quiet for a moment. While Rei thought he was  
worried that he was going to be insulted by the suggestion, instead he  
was thinking about how much he hated high school. If he was only a  
couple of years older then Rei like she said, than that's where he'd  
be. Finally bringing his attention back to Rei, he nodded, though  
reluctantly. "I'll think about it." That seemed like the safest  
response to him.  
  
Rei blinked in a moment of surprise and then gave a smile.  
"Thanks. I'll see you later, then."  
  
"Goodbye, Rei-san!" Eve waved as the girl walked away.  
Looking up at her father, she saw him give a short wave of goodbye and  
then sit down on the step. Not really knowing what else to do, she  
joined him. The pair sat in silence as Rei left their site and the  
last touch of light in the west faded away. As the stars began to  
appear overhead, Eve asked, "Daddy, why don't I have a mother?"  
  
Tomas blinked once and swore under his breath. He had no clue  
how to answer that question and no real clue as to the reason. Still,  
he couldn't just sit and stay quiet about it all. Thinking for a few  
seconds, he pulled out one of the oldest parental excuses in the book.  
"I don't think you're ready yet, Eve. I'll tell you when you are."  
  
Frowning up at her father, Eve replied with an actual touch of  
anger. "I am too ready. Why don't you just tell me?"  
  
With a sigh, Tomas knew it wasn't going to work. Still, he  
had a plan to run with now. "Fine, I'm not ready to tell you yet.  
Give me some time, okay?" Putting a touch of pain into his voice,  
Tomas continued, "It's not all that easy for me."  
  
"Really?'  
  
"Yeah, really. I'll tell you tomorrow, or maybe the day  
after. I promise."  
  
"Well, okay." Turning her attention back to the shrine's  
grounds she gazed down towards the stairs that led to the street, and  
watched as a young woman crested the top of them. "Daddy, who's  
that?" she asked pointing to the woman.  
  
Turning his own attention to the woman, Tomas blinked. The  
woman was dressed in jeans and what seemed to be a green sweater under  
a denim jacket. Her long blue hair and her face was fairly easy for  
Tomas to identify, though he didn't really believe it. "Botan?" he  
asked more to himself then to Eve.  
  
"Do you know her?"  
  
"Yeah," Tomas said with a nod, "I do. Tell you what, Eve, why  
don't you go take a bath and then we'll have some ice cream and watch  
a movie, okay?"  
  
At the mention of ice cream, Eve jumped to her feet. "Okay!"  
Turning, she rushed back into the home.  
  
With Eve out of the way, Tomas walked toward Botan, hoping  
she'd have some clue as to what the hell was going on. As he got into  
easy speaking distance from her, he said, "Am I glad to see you. What  
the hell's going on?"  
  
Botan's gaze took Tomas in for a moment before she sighed and  
shook her head. "You changed the universe, that's what happened."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Reaching out, Botan grabbed Tomas' right hand and pointed to  
the Rune in it. "Do you have any idea how much power is in one of  
these things? They bend the universe around them. There aren't  
supposed to be any True Runes unsealed. We had all twenty-seven of  
them stored away for safekeeping, and you went and unsealed. It. What  
were you thinking?"  
  
Almost defensively, Tomas replied, "I was thinking I was dead  
so there was no harm to touching it."  
  
"Tomas, do you know what this Rune is?"  
  
"Yeah," Tomas said with a shrug, wondering where all the  
hostility went. "It's Soul Eater, the Rune that governs over life and  
death. So?"  
  
"So," with an exasperated sigh, Botan answered, "it brought  
you back to life. And in doing so, it changed the Universe so that it  
could exist with a mortal down here. That means that events are going  
to start to revolve around you."  
  
"Okay," taking it in wasn't too hard. He'd actually expected  
something close to that, minus the Rune changing the universe bit.  
"So, this is bad how, exactly?"  
  
For a moment Botan stared at Tomas, and then blushed slightly  
in embarrassment. "In truth, its really not. Almost everything that  
got changed only affects this world, and one world in an entire  
universe isn't all that big a deal."  
  
"Then why were you getting so bent out of shape?"  
  
"Because I just spent the past week looking for you."  
  
"Looking for me? But I was with you only a day or so ago."  
This was just getting confusing for Tomas.  
  
"No, you weren't. It took Soul Eater a week to bring you back  
to life, and I still have no idea where you were."  
  
"Oh. Great, wonderful, so now what?" All of this was  
interesting, but not really important to Tomas. Or it could have been  
and he was just too indifferent to care.  
  
"Now, I've got to give you an offer." Stretching her arms out  
for a moment, she continued. "Koenma's decided since you're the first  
dead person to be brought back to life in a long time, he wants you to  
become a spirit detective."  
  
Blinking at that for a second, Tomas asked "What about Yusuke?  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Yusuke, the kid who's supposed to be your spirit detective."  
  
Frowning, Botan's face turned into a deeply lined one of  
thought. "I don't recall anyone named Yusuke. Let me check on it."  
  
Reaching out and taking Botan's arm, Tomas shook his head.  
"Its not important, don't worry about it. Just one question, do I get  
paid?"  
  
"Paid?" Botan frowned at the thought. "You're going to be  
protecting a lot of people, why would you want to get paid?"  
  
Pointing his thumb over his shoulder back to the shrine he  
replied, "Because I got a kid to take care of and bills to pay. I  
need some kind of income." Frowning, he continued, "I'm still trying  
to figure out how the kid part happened. You got any clue?"  
  
"Hmm? Oh, yes," Reaching into an inside pocket in her jacket,  
Botan held out a small paperback book. "This is your life story, or  
rather the one that rune of yours created for you. Koenma thought  
it'd be wise for you to get a chance to read it."  
  
Taking the book, Tomas noticed that the only thing on the  
cover was his name. "Tell him thanks for me. This is a big help."  
Tomas then blinked as Botan pulled the book out of his hand. "Hey,  
what gives?"  
  
"You only get it if you agree to be a spirit detective.  
Otherwise you're not allowed to see any official material."  
  
"Damn," Tomas whispered under his breath. Of course, the  
choice wasn't too hard for him. He hated walking around blind, deaf,  
and dumb. "Give me the book," his voice was resigned as he said it,  
"I'll be your detective."  
  
"Good," Botan said, returning the paperback to him. "I'll see  
you tomorrow to begin teaching you what you need to know."  
  
"Make it in the morning. I've got things to do in the  
afternoon." Stuffing the book into a pocket in his jeans, Tomas  
sighed. "I've got a funny feeling I made the wrong choice here.  
  
"Alright, the morning it is. I'll see you then!" Botan gave  
a cheerful wave as she faded from Tomas' view.  
  
He stood there for a few more moments before whispering damn  
and turning to head back in. He had a lot of reading to do tonight.  
  
***  
  
With a tired yawn, Tomas glanced over to the digital clock  
next to his bed as he finally closed the cover to the book with his  
life story in it. It had been an interesting read, and absolutely  
nothing like his real life had been before he ended up here.  
  
The story had opened with what were supposedly his earliest  
memories, having a cut on his knee being cleaned by a kind looking  
girl about a decade older then him when he was four. The girl's name  
had been Chisato, and like him, she had been an orphan. There was  
another orphan, Keiji, who was rather close to Chisato. Basically  
until he was seven Keiji and Chisato raised him rather then the people  
who ran the orphanage. According to the book, he never even learned  
the names of the people who had run it.  
  
When he was seven, Keiji and Chisato got married, and left to  
set out on their own, leaving him behind. When he was eight, he  
learned the reason Chisato and Keiji had gotten married was that at  
sixteen Chisato had gotten pregnant with Keiji's child, and that was  
why the pair had left him behind. Unfortunately he learned this at  
the pair's funeral. Only days after their child, Eve, had been born,  
they had been killed in a fire, and the baby Eve was gone.  
  
Without any hope of Chisato and Keiji coming for him, he had  
apparently run away from the orphanage to make his way through life on  
his own. It wasn't too long, however, before he had gotten dragged  
into the criminal world. For the first six years he had played the  
part of a pickpocket, bringing in small items and amounts of money  
while learning how to be a real thief. When he was thirteen, however,  
he'd been upgraded to the roll of a burglar, where the natural talents  
for stealth he'd seem to develop could be used for the best.  
  
That life went well for three years, though a few tight  
scrapes here and there livened things up at times. Then, when he was  
sixteen, he'd managed to steal a set of priceless jewels that were on  
visiting display at a local museum, jewels that were worth tens of  
millions of American dollars. The high boss of the major criminal  
ring the small yakuza group he was a part of, Torneo Rudman, was so  
impressed he'd sent an offer to join him for dinner.  
  
At Torneo's mansion of a home he was given a very special  
treat, he was introduced to Torneo's newest object for the black  
market, a biological weapon named Eve who had an organ which created  
nano-machines surgically placed into her body. The name struck a  
memory about his old friend's child, he'd actually dared to ask where  
Torneo got the girl. Apparently Torneo wasn't all that worried about  
him, because he'd happily told Tomas about how some of his Yakuza had  
managed to kill off a couple of young orphans and steal their newborn  
child.  
  
Tomas had been surprised by the answer, thinking it had all  
been a coincidence, but now that he knew, he was positive he couldn't  
leave Eve in Torneo's hands. The next part of the book had been a  
glowing chapter with him sneaking back into Torneo's home, disabling  
security systems, and rescuing Eve from some kind of machine that she  
had been hooked up to. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to  
disconnect the machine the correct way, and in the process Eve had  
lost her memories.  
  
With Eve in his care and thinking he was her father, he had  
come across a small shrine which had been burned to the ground and the  
priest whom had owned and handled the place dead. With a small  
fortune he'd stashed away from his thieving days, Tomas had bought the  
land and had the shrine rebuilt so he and Eve could live there. In  
the process he'd met the granddaughter of the former priest, Rei, and  
had made friends with her.  
  
The rest of the book was just some boring junk on how he'd  
used his knowledge of electronics to get a small job for a consulting  
company, how he was constantly screwed out of any decent job because  
he was only sixteen, and how he'd hacked into some government records  
to show that he'd adopted Eve, making things nice and legal in  
appearance at least, and some other boring day to day stuff.  
  
Sighing, Tomas turned off the reading light and crawled under  
his covers. He had his alarm set to Six AM, knowing he'd have to get  
up and begin his training with Botan in the morning, as well as get  
Eve to school. Still, now knowing what the life he'd stepped into  
was, he didn't feel as bad as he had before. Hopefully he'd manage to  
make do. The last thing that crossed his mind before sleep claimed  
him was that he had to tell Eve about her parents in the morning.  
Author's Notes: Well, there we go, chapter four done and set. As  
promised above, here's a quick profile on Eve so those of you who  
don't know who she is will, now.  
Name: Eve  
Age: 9  
Height: 133cm or 4ft 4in  
Weight: 30kg or 66lbs  
Hobbies: Reading, observing things  
Dislikes: Rooms without views; scary people  
Favorite Food: Ice cream  
Notes: Eve seems to have a genius IQ and never forgets the contents  
of a book once she's read it. Also, because she possesses nano-  
machines for healing, her wounds heal with speeds that can't be  
compared to normal people. Also, Eve will grow up as the only  
difference between her and an ordinary person is that she has an organ  
that produces nano-machines.  
  
Canon History: Eve is from a manga called Black Cat by Yabuki  
Kentaro. In the story, Eve was a biological weapon created in the  
labs of a weapon's merchant named Torneo Rudman. Torneo was going to  
create more people like Eve and was going to sell them onto the Black  
Market, except a pair of sweepers (bounty hunters) named Train and  
Sven (the two lead characters of the manga) agreed to the job of  
catching Torneo and turning him over to the police. Train had  
infiltrated Torneo's home and came across Torneo ordering Eve to kill  
some of his men. He interrupted and got Eve to chase him, though he  
fooled her when he went back into the mansion to hide.  
  
In the outside world for the first time in her memory, Eve was  
wandering around looking at all the people and trying to find Train  
when she ran into Sven. He thought she was a lost child, and bought  
her some ice cream while he waited for her to try to remember where  
she lived. However, before she could, Torneo showed up to reclaim  
her. Sven recognized his target, and tried to arrest Torneo, but  
Torneo simply ordered Eve, who was standing next to Sven at the time,  
to kill him, and she changed her hand into a large knife and drove it  
through Sven, before being taken away by Torneo. However, having to  
harm Sven brought out emotions in Eve that Torneo thought he had  
destroyed.  
  
Meanwhile, Sven got patched up, and although he was hurt, the wound  
wasn't mortal. Eve had disobeyed the order to kill him. Train had  
returned and the two armed up and raided Torneo's place. After some  
fight scenes against Torneo's guards, Sven caught up to Torneo and Eve  
while Train held off the reinforcements. A confrontation took place  
where Eve got shot protecting Sven, though she changed her stomach  
into iron so the bullet didn't hurt her too much. Train showed up,  
Torneo got himself arrested, and the arc ended with Eve deciding to go  
with Train and Sven so she could help them as they helped her. 


	6. Chapter 5

A Dark World  
An SI/Mega X-over  
By Tomas Megarson  
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com  
See my page at:   
  
Disclaimer: The characters, settings, and places of "Sailor Moon"  
were created by and belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The characters,  
settings, and places of "YuYuHakusho" were created by and belong to  
Yoshihiro Togashi. The characters, settings, and places of "Black  
Cat" were created by and belong to Yabuki Kentaro. The characters,  
settings, and places of "Bubblegum Crisis 2040" belong to those who  
created the anime, and are too numerous to name here.  
Chapter 5  
  
The sun was barely touching the sky above the Hikawa shrine as  
a cool breeze blew through the air. There was a touch of morning dew  
on the grass giving it a sheen as though it had been newly polished.  
The dirt path that led from the shrine itself to the stone steps that  
led from the street below, allowing the public to come to pray when  
they felt the need, was beginning to be drenched by the slowly  
creeping sunlight. There was, however, a distinct lack of people  
visiting the shrine ever since it had been burned down in a fire the  
year before. Even after it had been rebuilt it was rare for anyone to  
visit to pray.  
  
The reason for that lack of visitors stumbled up the last  
step, a grin spreading across his face as he viewed his home. He  
wasn't a priest, a monk, or even a religious person. The truth was he  
hadn't been to a service since he was nine and that didn't bother him  
one bit.  
  
The slight breeze that carried the morning air did nothing to  
move Tomas' sweat drenched hair. The black t-shirt he was wearing was  
likewise soaked and his gray sweatpants clung to his legs. His arms  
were hanging limply at his side as he began to stumble his way across  
the large yard and to his home.  
  
Tomas hadn't expected to be in the kind of shape he was in.  
Whatever had made him younger then he should be (and shorter as well)  
seemed to have also given him far better stamina then he'd had before.  
He actually managed to run somewhere around two miles from his guess,  
though he felt like hell now. His previous best before having to walk  
had only been three-quarters of a mile.  
  
As he stumbled his way to the door and quietly opened it, his  
slightly insane grin turned to a frown. He might have run farther  
then two miles, now that he'd thought about it. He hadn't had a watch  
on so he had no real way to judge how long he'd been out running, and  
though he knew his previous best time for a mile was a bit over twelve  
minutes, he had no clue how well he'd done this time.  
  
Still, it didn't really matter all that much to him. This  
morning he was really just testing his new life out before Botan  
arrived to begin his training as a spirit detective. Not that he was  
all that thrilled over that mess, mostly because he was sure it was  
going to lead to his death rather quickly. He knew how to fight, but  
it wasn't like he was a natural at it like most anime characters  
tended to be.  
  
Sliding the door closed behind him, Tomas promptly dropped to  
the floor, glad for the slight moment to relax. He only took a moment  
for his breather before he began to untie the laces on his sneakers  
and pull them off. Rolling onto his knees, Tomas pushed himself back  
to his feet, glad that enough of the exhaustion had faded in that  
short break so that his legs were no longer shaking.  
  
Moving through his home, Tomas let his gaze take in the bare  
walls and the small amount of furniture spread throughout the room.  
He'd have to do something about that. eventually. Walking as quietly  
as he could on his tired legs, he moved to Eve's door and opened it.  
Inside the still dark room he could see Eve curled up in her bed.  
Watching her in the slowly growing light, Tomas felt something grab at  
his heart with some kind of need, almost shaking it in its necessity.  
It was a strange feeling to him, and one he'd only felt a couple of  
times before.  
  
It was a feeling of protection; a deep seeded need to keep the  
young blonde girl safe. Releasing a tired sigh and doing his best to  
shake the feeling off, Tomas moved toward the sleeping girl. It was  
strange to him that Eve could affect him so much even though he'd only  
known her for a day. It was definitely going to take him some time to  
get used to it. Or maybe not, given how well he was already dealing  
with it. Shaking his head and shoving the thoughts aside, he reached  
down and took Eve's small shoulder in his hand and began to gently  
shake her. "Time to get up, Princess. You've gotta get ready for  
school."  
  
Slowly, as the shaking continued, Eve's eyes opened. Her gaze  
turned up to Tomas and a smile came to her face as she sleepily sat  
up. "Good morning, Daddy."  
  
Smiling back at the girl, Tomas replied, "Same to you. Why  
don't you get dressed while I go fix up some breakfast?"  
  
"Okay!"  
  
Walking out of the room and closing the door behind him while  
Eve almost bounced out of bed, Tomas shook his head. "Man," he  
whispered under his breath as he headed into the kitchen, "she's  
nothing at all like canon. Loosing her memory really fucked up her  
personality. She was never hyper before."  
  
Pulling his mind from the strangeness of it all, Tomas opened  
the fridge and looked into it. "Hmm...what to make?" Thinking for a  
few moments, he shrugged and pulled out a carton of eggs and the milk  
jug. "Pancakes will do. I can make those from memory, at least. I  
gotta buy a cookbook or two today or there's never gonna be a Japanese  
meal in this place again."  
  
As he began to search through the cupboards for the other  
ingredients and the dishes he'd need to cook up the pancakes, he  
shifted his thoughts to what he had planned to do that day. The  
training with Botan, well, he wasn't sure how that was going to go, or  
what it would contain. After that was done his plan was to find a  
local high school and enroll. While he could have probably tried to  
find some low paying job, that would have sucked, and since he wasn't  
sure about the laws about people his age and school, it was safer to  
go. Besides, if he had to be in school for seven hours a day there  
was less chance of getting sent to track down some demon that would  
kill him. Dying really sucked.  
  
Lost in the mix of cooking and his own thoughts, Tomas never  
noticed when Eve walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table.  
The room was silent except for the sounds of cooking for another ten  
minutes. Finally, with the last pancake cooked, Tomas grabbed the  
plate he'd been stacking them even as he turned off the burner and  
turned to face the table. At the sight of Eve sitting there, he had  
the decency to blush slightly. "Sorry Eve, I didn't hear you come in.  
I'd have given you the earlier ones to eat."  
  
"It's okay, daddy." Eve looked at the plate stacked with the  
pancakes as Tomas grabbed a couple of plates and forks from their  
places. "Umm...daddy, what is this?"  
  
Going into the fridge to pull out the butter, Tomas frowned.  
"They're pancakes. Hmm...I need to go shopping." Not finding any  
maple syrup, Tomas dug around the fridge some more, finally smiling as  
he came across a container of strawberries. "They're an American  
breakfast, or from somewhere. I never really found out." Sitting  
down at the table, Tomas opened the strawberries and gave Eve a plate  
and fork. "They're good, put some of the strawberries on them and eat  
up."  
  
A silence grew between the pair as they began to eat. The  
strawberries, Tomas was pleased to discover, were fairly sweet and  
went rather well with the pancakes. With no complaints coming from  
Eve over the meal, Tomas was fairly sure it was a decent success.  
Still, however, as the silence grew longer Tomas knew something was  
wrong, and it wasn't hard to guess what the problem was. Knowing what  
he had to do, he spoke up. "Eve, you wanted to know about your  
mother, right?"  
  
Looking up from her breakfast, Eve's eyes widened in surprise.  
"I thought..."  
  
Tomas gave a small shrug. "Well, if you're old enough to ask  
and worry over it, you're old enough to know." Now, he wondered, how  
bad was she going to take this, and how bad was he going to screw up  
telling her? "You're mother's name was Chisato. She was a rather  
beautiful girl, from what I can remember. She died in a fire just  
after you were born with your father, Keiji."  
  
"With...my father? But...you're daddy...?" Eve's face was a  
mix of being stricken and confusion as she spoke.  
  
"I am now," was Tomas' reply. Boy, this was not turning out  
good from his perspective. "Your parents and I were very close  
friends, practically family. When they died, I couldn't let you go to  
an orphanage, so I adopted you." Tomas paused for a few seconds  
before the word crap ran through his mind. If Eve did the math, she'd  
know that he was far too young to adopt her at the time of her  
parents' deaths.  
  
Luck, however, was with him for at least a moment. Eve seemed  
to be lost in her own thoughts, tears slowly building in her eyes.  
Getting up from his seat, Tomas walked around the table to Eve and  
enfolded her in a hug, hoping he was playing this right. "Hey, I am  
your dad. I love you, and I'm going see that you grow up safe and  
happy, just like Keiji and Chisato would want. Don't you ever forget  
that, Eve."  
  
After what could have been an eternity, Eve wrapped her arms  
back around Tomas. "I love you too, daddy." Eve spoke the words with  
both a sound of determination and of finality. It was easily clear  
that she had made up her mind as to who she considered to be her  
father.  
  
"Right, Princess." Backing out of the hug and ending the  
tender moment, Tomas smiled at Eve. "Now, why don't you go brush your  
teeth? You've got to leave for school soon."  
  
Giving Tomas a big smile, Eve nodded her head and got out of  
her chair to head for the bathroom. Glad that that whole problem had  
apparently been successfully dealt with, Tomas through the dishes he  
had into the sink and the remaining strawberries away. With that  
done, he went for his bedroom when a knock at the front door caught  
his ear. Wondering who it was, he changed his destination and went to  
the front door and opened it.  
  
"Oh, umm...good morning, Tomas"  
  
Blinking, Tomas looked at Rei standing before him and spoke.  
"Yeah, morning. What's goin' on, Rei?" He thought she had said she  
didn't need to take Eve to school anymore since he wasn't working.  
  
"These are some friends of mine, that's all." Rei blushed  
slightly as she continued. "I forgot that you weren't working  
anymore."  
  
"Oh, well, it happens." Tomas shrugged slightly. "I'm glad  
you did, though. I went out for a jog this morning and I haven't had  
time to get a shower in yet." Thinking for a second, Tomas gave a  
smile. "Actually, I got a knew job, but its far, far less demanding  
on my time, and I need to get in shape for it. If you could keep  
taking her school, it'd help me out a lot, otherwise I'll probably  
have to get up at five."  
  
"Well, it doesn't bother me any, so I'd be happy to, I guess."  
  
Tomas gave Rei a smile. "Great, thanks, I appreciate it."  
  
"Well, you're welcome." Looking behind Tomas into the shrine,  
Rei asked, "so, where is Eve?"  
  
"Brushing her teeth and getting her books, I hope. That what  
I told her to do after breakfast." Glancing over his shoulder and  
still not seeing Eve, Tomas turned back to Rei. "Say, if you come  
somewhat earlier, you can join me and Eve for breakfast. I'm sure  
she'd enjoy the company, and it's no harder for me to cook for three  
people then for two."  
  
"Oh, um, I'll think about." The offer had clearly caught her  
off guard, not that that had been Tomas' intent.  
  
Tomas, thinking a bit more, just started talking. "You know,  
I really do owe you for the help you've been with Eve. It would have  
been a lot harder if you hadn't been here."  
  
"Don't worry about it, its not a problem."  
  
"Still," Tomas said, "I feel rather bad about relying on you  
so much and never really doing anything in return."  
  
Rei gave Tomas a slight smile. "You rebuilt the shrine. I  
don't think anyone else would have. Grandfather would be happy, I'm  
sure." Rei's smile took a slightly side look as she finished  
speaking.  
  
"Hey, I got an idea," Tomas said, wanting to change the  
subject. "Why don't you come over for dinner Saturday? Hell, bring  
some friends and we'll make it a small party. Eve loves meeting new  
people, and I wouldn't mind it either. I'll invite my...one friend,  
and you can invite yours."  
  
Rei blinked at Tomas. "One friend?"  
  
"Yeah," Tomas shrugged, "I never really had time to make any  
friends before...well, today, actually."  
  
"Oh, I'm...sorry."  
  
"Hey, its okay. I get by."  
  
A silence grew between the pair for a moment when Rei spoke again,  
"Good morning, Eve-chan."  
  
"Good morning, Rei-san!" Eve chirped happily while coming up  
from behind Tomas. As he stepped aside the girl slipped past him.  
"Bye daddy."  
  
"Have a good day in school, Eve. You too, Rei." Tomas gave  
the pair a small wave as they walked away. He remained in the doorway  
until the pair had walked away before stepping fully outside and  
closing the door behind him. Sitting down outside, Tomas rested his  
back against the wall and closed his eyes. So far the day hadn't gone  
too badly, but he wasn't sure how long that would keep up. As his  
mind turned over the facts, ever so slowly he drifted into a light  
doze.  
  
***  
  
It was a short time later when a hand shaking his shoulder  
woke Tomas up. His eyes opened to take in the female face before him.  
A couple of years ago had this happened he'd have made some quiet  
comment about being awoken and asked what was going on. He'd changed  
a lot since he'd been in high school, however, and his reacted by  
saying the first thing that came to mind. "You know, that's a rather  
pretty face to wake up to. I could get used to it."  
  
Blinking and standing back up, Botan gazed down at Tomas, the  
very faint touches of a blush creeping onto her cheeks caused by the  
comment. "Umm, thank you, I suppose."  
  
"You're welcome." Tomas eyed Botan for a moment, taking in  
the jeans, light green shirt, and denim jacket the girl was wearing.  
All in all it looked pretty good on her, and made it rather easy to  
forget she was the Grim Reaper. Climbing to his feet, Tomas gave  
Botan a grin. "So, how ya doin' this morning, Botan-chan?"  
  
"I'm alright. Its been an easy day, actually." Botan  
surprised Tomas with a smile. "Since Koenma made me your partner,  
he's given most of my duties of taking people to the afterlife to  
other spirits. It's a rather nice change, actually."  
  
"Sound's good, Botan-chan. So, what's the agenda for today?"  
  
Botan looked a bit ashamed as she answered. "Not much,  
actually. There's not too much that I can teach you. A lot of stuff  
you'll have to learn on your own. I do have some neat tools for you  
though, like this!" Reaching into her pocket Botan pulled out what  
appeared to be a small bronze ring. "This is the..."  
  
"I recognize that!" Tomas cut Botan off quickly as he took  
the ring from her. "This thing will let me look through stuff, like  
an x-ray machine, but it uses my Rekki."  
  
"Yes, that's right." Botan nodded as she watched Tomas hold  
the ring up to his eye and look around with it. She blinked as he  
came to look at her for a moment and pulled the ring down. "What is  
it?"  
  
"Nothing," Tomas replied, a grin coming to his face. "Just  
something I'd be better off not doing. So, what else is there?" Tomas  
asked as he slid the ring onto one of his fingers. It wasn't  
comfortable, but his sweatpants didn't have any pockets in them for  
him to use.  
  
"Well, there's this as well," Botan said, pulling a small  
compass out of the same pocket that had been holding the ring. "This  
will lead you to demons. I'm sure it will be very helpful to you."  
  
Taking the compass Tomas nodded, "Yup, very useful," keeping  
away from the demons, he added to himself. Shrugging at the compass  
since the needle was pointing north, he turned his attention back to  
Botan. "So, anything else?"  
  
"You seem to know a lot about this."  
  
"As I told you when you came for me, I read manga." Giving  
Botan's confused look a shrug, he continued, "Don't worry about it.  
It's not a big deal. Is there anything else?"  
  
Looking at Tomas, Botan shrugged. "Well, do you know how to  
use Rekki?"  
  
"I've never done it, but I think I got the theory behind it.  
Just concentrate it on a finger, aim, and shove it away. Oh, and  
right now I should only be able to use it once a day."  
  
Botan nodded. "Bingo, bingo! The more you practice with it  
the more often you'll be able to use it. I guess there's nothing else  
to try to teach." Botan gave a sigh. "I wonder what I'll have to do  
for the rest of the day?"  
  
A smirk came to Tomas' face. "Well, I need to go take a  
shower. You wanna join me?"  
  
Botan looked at Tomas and blinked. "What do you...you  
pervert!" she exclaimed as she got the implications.  
  
Tomas' defense was a shrug. "Hey you're a cute girl, you  
can't fault me for asking."  
  
"As a matter of fact, I can!"  
  
Sighing in defeat, Tomas finally gave up. "Fine, fine, I  
won't ask again, sheesh." Still, it had been funny to watch her  
realize the question. "Anyway, I was serious about needing a shower.  
I've got things to do this afternoon, and I need to look fairly decent  
and not stick of sweat and B.O."  
  
"Oh?" The perverted remark set aside, Botan asked, "What do  
you need to do?"  
  
"Well," Tomas gave Botan a smile, "I promised someone I'd look  
into going back to school. I'm gonna head over to one of the local  
high schools and see if I can't register. I'm not sure what's needed  
to do so."  
  
"Oh, well, that's good. School will make you smarter, and a  
detective needs to be bright."  
  
"Yup, I agree." Turning around, Tomas opened the door. "Feel  
free to come in and hang out if you want, Botan-chan. I don't mind."  
  
Botan gave it some thought for a moment before shaking her  
head. "No, I'll go back and see if Koenma needs something. You never  
know when a case will come up."  
  
"Right, got it." Tomas headed inside, but quickly turned  
back. "Oh yeah, Botan, I'm throwing a small party Saturday. Will you  
come to it? Its just gonna be a few people and dinner, but if we're  
going to be working together you should get a chance to meet Rei and  
Eve at least."  
  
"A party? Well, I don't mind, so sure, I'll come." Botan  
gave a smile. "Thank's for inviting me."  
  
"Always happy to. Anyway, I'm off to shower." Giving Botan a  
wave he continued, "See you later, Botan-chan. Have a good day."  
Tomas caught Botan's goodbye just before the girl faded away and he  
closed the door.  
  
***  
  
Walking out of Juuban High School, Tomas shook his head. That  
had not gone well. Not gone well at all. First he'd needed to pay  
application fees, then fill out a books worth of paper work, and then  
he'd been given an entrance exam to take, since he hadn't been to  
school since he was seven according to records.  
  
The exam had begun well enough, and he'd breezed through the  
math and science sections of the exam, though they had been time  
consuming. The English section of the exam was a complete joke to him  
given he was American, at least originally. Although the strange look  
the verbal exam tester had given him a strange look when he'd shifted  
into his Jersey accent. After those three he'd been feeling pretty  
good about himself. Then he'd hit the Japanese history section.  
  
He was so screwed, he was sure of it. That section he'd known  
almost nothing on. He took his best guesses and swore at the fact  
he'd never got around to taking any classes on the subject when he'd  
had the chance. That section was the true killer on him, and he  
wasn't sure how the damn thing had been weighted. He just knew that  
he'd done bad.  
  
Sighing away the frustration, Tomas turned his attention to  
the world around him, not that that was all that interesting. The  
only good thing about it was that it was not that damn exam. There  
were a number of small stores around, but none that interested him.  
Of course, for a store to interest him, it'd have to either sell video  
games or books. His tastes were so limited at times, not that it  
really bothered him.  
  
Checking his watch, Tomas noticed he still had a couple of  
hours before Eve would get out of school. He wasn't really sure what  
to do with those hours as he turned another corner. He considered  
finding somewhere to buy more furniture for the Shrine, when his eyes  
caught something far more interesting; a cute girl with a depressed  
expression standing by the curb. The grin that came to Tomas' face  
quickly vanished as he fought to decide whether to actually speak to  
her or not. In the end, he made his choice. "Hey, you don't look too  
good," he said to the girl, "something the matter?"  
  
The girl turned her head to look at him, and Tomas fought the  
urge to cry out in surprise. He should have known something like this  
would happen, but it hadn't occurred to him that he'd run into Nene  
Romanova. Thinking back for a second to what killed him, he realized  
he shouldn't have been all that surprised by it. He brought his  
attention back to Nene.  
  
"Nothing I want to talk about with a stranger."  
  
Blinking, Tomas shrugged. "Okay, I'm Tomas. What's your  
name?"  
  
Blinking back, it seemed that Nene had been caught off guard  
by the response. Before she could really think about stopping  
herself, she replied, "I'm Nene."  
  
"There," Tomas grinned down at the girl, "we're not strangers  
anymore. You really do look like you got a lot on your mind, so, do  
you want to talk about it?"  
  
Finding herself unable to resist the impulse, Nene smiled for  
a moment at the outrageousness of it all. Still, she hesitated a bit  
before replying, "I don't really think I should talk about my problems  
with someone I just met."  
  
Shrugging at the response and not too surprised by it, Tomas  
replied, "Well, how about we go grab something to eat, and if you feel  
like talking about it in a bit I'll be here." Looking around for a  
moment, Tomas spied something that made him grin. "There's an ice  
cream shop down the street. What do you say we go get some?"  
  
Nene's eyes lit up at the mention of ice cream. She thought  
about it for a few moments taking in Tomas's face. He seemed around  
her age, and he certainly didn't look like some criminal dressed in  
the slacks, dress shirt, and tie that he was. And most of all, he'd  
mentioned ice cream. Deciding that it was alright, she nodded and  
smiled. "Okay, lets go."  
  
Walking down the street, the pair moved quietly for a few  
moments before Tomas asked, "I take it by the uniform you're with the  
police."  
  
"The A.D. Police, actually."  
  
"It must be rather exciting at times. I've come across a  
berserk boomer before. It was really nasty." Nasty for him, Tomas  
thought, recalling his death again. Damn, but he was remembering that  
a lot. Maybe it'd fade with time, but he doubted it.  
  
"Not for me," Nene was saying, "I tend to just handle calls,  
actually." Slightly embarrassed by her answer, she asked, "What do  
you do?"  
  
Tomas gave a short laugh, glad he actually had a job now.  
"I'm a detective for...a private organization, actually." Giving Nene  
a smile, he continued, "I just started today, however. I'm not really  
sure what I'm in for." Turning away from Nene, Tomas grabbed the door  
handle and opened the door to the ice cream shop, holding it open for  
Nene. "After you."  
  
Giving Tomas a smile, Nene walk through the door, and looked  
over her shoulder as he followed her in. "So, what's the organization  
you work for? Maybe I've heard of it."  
  
"Umm..." that was a tricky question for Tomas to answer.  
Still, he gave it a shot without too much lying. "Afterlife Inc. The  
owner is really into the occult type stuff." Glancing at an empty  
booth, Tomas spied a newspaper on it. His luck, it appeared, was  
really with him today as the page the paper was opened to had a photo  
of a youma on it. Picking up the paper, he pointed the picture out to  
Nene. "Stuff like this thing, I suppose."  
  
Glancing at the paper, Nene shivered slightly at the sheer  
ugliness of the thing. "Well, I'm glad someone wants to do something  
about those things. I've heard the chief wants to get the  
authorization to let the ADP deal with them, but someone high up is  
resisting his efforts."  
  
The conversation paused for a few moments as the pair got  
their turn and ordered their ice cream. Tomas paid for both of them  
and the pair got a booth before continuing to talk. The conversation  
turned into a bit of small talk about the weather and the city before  
Nene asked, "So, how old are you?"  
  
Shrugging, Tomas replied, "I'm sixteen. You?" he asked,  
though he already knew the answer.  
  
Nene, however, didn't hear his question. "You're only  
sixteen? But you act so mature."  
  
With a shrug, Tomas replied, "I've had a hard life and I've  
got a daughter to care for. I don't really have much time to act  
like a kid."  
  
Nene blinked at that and edged slightly away from Tomas.  
"A...daughter...at your age?"  
  
Tomas nodded, not noticing the slight edginess in Nene.  
"Yeah, she's ten and a real cute girl." His mind came back to Nene as  
he took in her shocked expression. "Oh...OH! Sorry about that,"  
Tomas gave a slightly nervous laugh. He had just realized how bad all  
that had sounded. "I adopted her. Eve, that's her name, is the  
daughter of a couple of old friends of mine. They died, and I could  
let Eve get put into an orphanage, so I took her in. She lost her  
memory, though, so she doesn't remember her real parents. I've told  
her about them, though."  
  
"Oh," Nene took that in for a few moments before giving Tomas  
a smile. "That's really nice of you, and it must be hard."  
  
"Yeah," Tomas agreed, "but I grew up as an orphan, so I know  
what it's like."  
  
Glancing down at her watch, Nene shot out of her chair.  
"Augh! I'm late for getting back to work! I'm sorry, Tomas, I really  
gotta go! Maybe I'll see you again! Bye!"  
  
"Um, yeah...hey, wait a second!" Shooting out of his own  
chair, Tomas quickly ran after Nene, catching up to her as she reached  
the door. "I'm throwing a small party Saturday night. If you want,  
feel free to come, and bring along some friends."  
  
Nene stopped moving and turned to face Tomas. "A party?"  
  
"Yeah." Scratching the back of his head, Tomas gave a nervous  
laugh, "Actually, right now it seems I might be the only guy there. I  
haven't really had any time yet to make friends, so I'm trying to meet  
new people. Please, if you want to come, invite anyone you want. Co-  
workers, friends, neighbors, whatever."  
  
"Hmm..." Nene thought for a moment and shrugged. "Where is  
it? I'll give it some thought."  
  
"At the Hikawa Shrine. Its not too hard to find. I live  
there, actually."  
  
"I know where it is, I used to go there occasionally to pray  
before it got burned down." Nene gave Tomas another smile. "So  
you're the one who had it rebuilt? Maybe I will come, if only to see  
whether you got it right or not." Tomas almost got a chance to reply  
when Nene's eye's went wide again. "Gah! Work! Gotta go, bye bye!"  
  
Following Nene out the door, but not running after her as she  
took off down the street, Tomas shook his head. "I don't know what's  
more insane, that I invited her, or that she agreed to come." Tomas  
thought for a few moments before raising his right hand and staring at  
Soul Eater. "This is your fault," he muttered at the True Rune, "I  
just know it is. Damn it, what ware you getting me into?" Sighing in  
frustration, Tomas turned and walked away.  
Author's Notes: Well, chapter 5 is now done. If this was a manga,  
you could consider this the end of Volume One. Chapter 6 will pick  
up...somewhere. Probably the party, but I haven't decided yet. It  
may start before the party. We'll see. 


	7. Chapter 6

A Dark World  
An SI/Mega X-over  
By Tomas Megarson  
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com  
See my page at:   
  
Disclaimer: The characters, settings, and places of "Sailor Moon"  
were created by and belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The characters,  
settings, and places of "YuYuHakusho" were created by and belong to  
Yoshihiro Togashi. The characters, settings, and places of "Black  
Cat" were created by and belong to Yabuki Kentaro. The characters,  
settings, and places of "Bubblegum Crisis 2040" belong to those who  
created the anime, and are too numerous to name here.  
Chapter 6  
"Well, well, I wasn't expecting to see you again."  
  
"Yeah, well, doing the unexpected helps keep a guy like me  
alive." Tomas smirked at the large man behind the counter. The day  
before he'd spent reading through the book Botan had given him on his  
knew life, this time paying close attention to all the details rather  
then skimming through it. He'd picked up names and descriptions of  
people from his days working for the Yakuza, along with places he  
could get in touch with the people.  
  
This was, however, the first time he'd tried to do so, and  
he'd carefully picked this man, Sochi, after making a lot of notes on  
the people. While still big, the man's hair had turned gray years  
before and his face was showing wrinkles that gave away his age.  
Sochi, the book had mentioned, was the man who had pulled Tomas into  
the criminal side of the world, and was the person that he supposedly  
trusted the most in the organization. Tomas just hoped he hadn't been  
a bad judge of character.  
  
"So," Sochi inquired, "what are you doing here, you rascal?"  
  
Giving a grin and a shrug, Tomas replied, "I need a favor from  
you."  
  
Sochi's relaxed face turned into a huge grin. "Of course you  
do, there's no other reason you'd come here. What do you want,  
squirt?"  
  
The smirk on Tomas' face remained the same as when he had  
entered, and his hand waved at the merchandise that cluttered Sochi's  
shop. "I wanna buy a bike, and not have to deal with all the legal  
crap that goes with it."  
  
Sochi's eyes gazed around his shop for a few moments, taking  
in the dozen custom built motorcycles that rested silently around  
them. His shop was a front for the Yakuza, a place  
were...acquirements could be dropped off and picked up regularly  
without causing suspicion. The surprise from the request took him off  
guard for a few moments, and he found himself unable to stop himself  
from repeating the request. "You want to buy a motorcycle?"  
  
"Yeah." Tomas finally let the smirk drop from his face, and  
thankfully as his face had been starting to hurt. So far, thankfully,  
things were going as he'd mentally imagined they would, though he  
didn't know if it would last. "I'm getting tired of walking  
everywhere, and I've got nowhere to park a car."  
  
"I thought you hated them, though."  
  
"Yeah, when I was younger." Tomas spoke in a slightly painful  
way. "I grew up though, especially recently."  
  
"Yeah," Sochi nodded, "I guess so. Well, how are you going to  
pay for it?"  
  
Smirking, Tomas pulled an envelope out of his pocket and  
placed it on the counter between himself and Sochi. "Vault Thirteen.  
It's yours in payment. There's enough there to cover the costs."  
  
The last page of the book on his life had been an index that  
told of numerous vaults where he'd stashed things from his thieving  
days, ranked in order of the amount that the contents could fetch on  
the black market. The lowest vault had been Vault Fifteen, and had a  
solid ten thousand American Dollars in it, hard cash stashed in  
protective containers. The Vault One's contents had a few rare jewels  
he'd stolen that would have brought in a few million dollars had he  
sold them to the black market. As for Thirteen, it was worth (at the  
time, anyway) slightly over twelve thousand dollars, more then enough  
for a motorcycle.  
  
Sochi stared at the envelope for awhile before he finally  
nodded. "I can't give you one from my shop, but I can get you one."  
His face was serious as his hand reached out and covered the envelope.  
"I'll check out your Vault tonight and see what's its worth. I'll get  
you something close to its value."  
  
Tomas nodded at the man. "Great. I picked up a cell phone  
earlier. The numbers with the instructions, give me a call when you  
get my bike in." A grin he couldn't hold back came to his face and  
filled his emerald eyes as he took in the man's shocked expression.  
"Come on, I know I can trust you. After all, you know if you try to  
rob me, I'll get it all back and with interest."  
  
Sighing and shaking his head, Sochi agreed. "Yeah, you would,  
wouldn't you. Just get out of here. I'll give you a call."  
  
"Right, see ya old friend." Turning around and tossing a wave  
over his shoulder Tomas walked out of the shop and into the bright,  
warm afternoon sunlight. A cool breeze blew through his thick black  
hair, making it seem even messier then before, not that he really  
cared. He decided days ago that if he was going to be stuck in an  
anime universe he was going to let his hair follow the rule of letting  
it fall as it would. Well, he thought it was a rule, anyway, given  
almost no one in any anime or manga he'd seen ever combed their hair.  
  
Walking down the small street, Tomas turned another corner  
onto a main drag that was a part of a rather decent business district.  
He had to shake his head in wonder and gaze down at Soul Eater on his  
hand. The last time he'd been in this part of the city it had been  
the slaver's market where he had bought Eve. Now it was filled with  
small shops selling books and flowers and electronics and other  
things. It was quite a change the True Rune had caused, though one he  
was glad for. Had it still existed, he'd have turned Soul Eater loose  
on the place.  
  
Sighing, Tomas continued making his way through the streets,  
his mood dropping a bit. He still hadn't had a chance to try out Soul  
Eater on anyone and wasn't sure if or how it would actually worse.  
Everything had been going great since it'd brought him back to life,  
and he was waiting for the two-ton weight over his head to drop and  
crush him. It would have to happen, he knew his luck wasn't this  
good, and he doubted the whole dying thing bought him much since he'd  
come back to life.  
  
Turning another street, Tomas sighed once more as a school  
came into sight, Eve's school to be exact. One of her teachers had  
called that morning asking for a parent/teacher conference for some  
reason. Who knew, maybe this meeting would cut the rope holding the  
weight; it couldn't be good. At least Eve wouldn't be with him for  
it. She was back at the shrine with Rei, getting things ready for the  
party he was going to throw. Rei had mentioned she wanted to cook  
something for the party, but hadn't mentioned what it was except that  
Eve would enjoy helping her. As long as she didn't touch the new  
grill he'd bought, he didn't really care.  
  
As he walked onto the school grounds, he had to shake his head  
slightly as he remembered that. The look on the postal guy's face  
when he'd pulled out a Visa card in his name was almost priceless.  
The guy never thought a sixteen-year-old kid would have bought a  
grill. A video game console, maybe, but not a grill. All in all, it  
had been a very amusing ten minutes.  
  
Pulling open the door, Tomas walked into the school building  
and glanced around the halls. There was a desk with a secretary a bit  
off to the side, a few padded chairs for people to sit in, and a  
display case with a few trophies inside. It looked a lot like all the  
other schools he'd been in, really. Walking over to the secretary,  
Tomas smiled politely at the woman. "Hello, I'm Tomas Shinkyou. I  
have an appointment to see Ketsunoana-sensei."  
  
"One moment please." Tomas rocked back on his heals as the  
woman picked up a phone near her and punched a few buttons. He  
quickly lost interest with her and gazed around the main hall for a  
few moments. "Ketsunoana-sensei will see you in conference room  
three. Its down the hall on your right, clearly marked."  
  
"Thanks." Turning away from the woman, Tomas walked down the  
hallways, taking his time and reading the various things that were  
posted on the wall. They weren't really interesting to him, but they  
were better then thinking about the meeting that was about to happen.  
He actually took a step past the conference room before his mind had  
registered that he'd arrived. Turning around, he stepped to the door  
and knocked politely as he stepped in. "Ketsunoana-sense, I'm Tomas  
Shinkyou, Eve's father."  
  
The woman's back was to him and her head was down looking at  
something on the table in front of her as she replied, "Come in,  
Shinkyou-san, and have the seat. Oh, please, shut the door behind  
you."  
  
Reaching behind himself, Tomas shut the door, noticing that as  
he did so it cut the room off from the world around him. There were  
no windows in the room, and its walls were a plain white. It was  
pretty much everything that discouraged finding something to do  
besides talk to the others in the room. Moving around, and feeling  
some dread, Tomas pulled out a chair and sat across from the teacher.  
  
"So," The teacher began, finally looking up at him, "Shinkyou-  
san..."  
  
Tomas managed to keep the grimace he felt come to his face as  
Ketsunoana-sensei trailed off. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Alright kid, who are you?" The teacher's voice had quickly  
turned sharp and her eyes narrowed in anger.  
  
"I'm Tomas, Eve's father. You asked me to come here to speak  
with you." Tomas was unable to stop his grimace this time as the  
woman's eyes narrowed even more.  
  
"Don't play with me, kid. What are you, Eve's brother, trying  
to keep your parents from finding out she's in trouble? This is just  
making things worse."  
  
Tomas drew a deep breath in, doing his best to calm his nerves  
and remain polite. "No Ketsunoana-senshi, I am Eve's father. I have  
the legal documents to prove it in a safety deposit box and you can  
check them out yourself through government records."  
  
"Cute kid, I don't know whether to think you're smart for  
telling me that, or an idiot for thinking I'd believe it." The  
teacher suddenly shot out of her chair and stared down at Tomas hard.  
"Now, tell me the truth kid. You're just making this a whole lot  
worse."  
  
As the woman gazed down at him in a very superior manner,  
Tomas' limit for politeness was passed, and his old city kid attitude  
kicked in. "Look, bitch, I'm Eve's father. You don't like it, just  
fuck off and die."  
  
"What!?" Ketsunoana's face was a mix of rage and shock as she  
stared at him. "How DARE you speak to me that way! You're parents  
are going to hear about this!"  
  
"I don't HAVE parents you goddamned bitch," Tomas snarled back  
at the woman, his eyes filled with anger. "You know what, fuck it.  
I've been wanting to use this thing anyway!" Shooting out of his own  
seat, Tomas raised his right hand so that Soul Eater was facing the  
woman who had just royally pissed him off. "Soul Eater!" As he  
called out the name of the True Rune, an image of it formed over his  
head, the figure of Death turning its cold gaze on the woman. "Finger  
of Death!"  
  
As Tomas spoke the name of the magical attack, a black line  
shot from his right hand to strike Ketsunoana in the chest. The line  
quickly thickened and a black energy rippled down the woman's body.  
She didn't even scream as the power passed over here. And then it was  
over, and she dropped lifelessly into her chair.  
  
Tomas stood there staring at the woman for a moment. He  
couldn't see her moving and the room was deathly quiet. Finally, he  
whispered to himself. "Oh shit." The irrational rage that had filled  
him was gone now, and he was able to see with cold calculation just  
what he had done. "Oh, damn, I think she's dead." His arm dropped to  
his side, hanging limply from its socket. Finally, Tomas swallowed,  
and turned to the door. "I'm not staying to find out," he whispered  
to himself. Opening the door, he stepped back into the school and  
closed it behind him. Hopefully he'd be gone before anyone noticed  
the teacher's body.  
  
***  
As he walked up the steps to the shrine, Tomas let out a tired  
sigh, finally shoving what had happened at the school to the back of  
his mind. He spent quite a long time out wandering the streets coming  
to terms with the fact that he had killed. Sure he had joked about  
it, and threatened some people, and had taken a job that would lead  
him to killing demons at some point. It took a lot, however, to get  
over the fact that he had killed, though.  
  
Now, though, all he wanted to do was crash and let go of the  
whole mess. Or maybe try to get in touch with Botan and talk to her  
about it, maybe have her drag him up to Koenma's so he could apologize  
to the teacher. Releasing another tiring sigh, he crested the last  
two steps and took in his home. And stopped.  
  
"What the fuck...?" Tomas' voice was a soft whisper when he  
spoke, taking in the crowded grounds. There were people everywhere,  
most of whom he'd never met. In fact, almost everyone present was a  
complete stranger to him, and he simply stared dumbly at the scene.  
  
"Daddy's home!"  
  
Tomas came out of his stupor in time to drop to his knees and  
catch the flying hug from his daughter. His arms went around her even  
though his eyes remained on the crowd, noticing Rei walking toward him  
and the remaining having stopped whatever they had been doing and gaze  
at the pair. Finally, he gave up trying to figure out what was going  
on and whispered in Eve's ear, "Kiddo, what's going on?"  
  
Eve pulled herself away from her father and stared at him for  
a moment before she let go of him fully and pointed an accusing finger  
at him. "You forgot!"  
  
Blinking and unsure what was going on, he replied, "Forgot  
what?" this time forgetting to whisper his question.  
  
Rei, coming to stand behind Eve, giggled and practically  
grinned at Tomas. "You forgot your own party? That's a good one."  
  
"Party?" Tomas blinked for a second before it came to him,  
"Oh yeah, the party. Heh, I did forget after the parent  
teacher...thing..." Tomas' voice drew off as the memory of that  
incident came through his mind again.  
  
A concerned gaze came from Rei as she caught that something  
about the meeting had struck Tomas wrong. "What's the matter?"  
  
Looking up at Rei, Tomas blanked for a second as he thought  
about what to say. "Yeah," was the first thing out of his mouth,  
though he doubted it'd be enough, and he began thinking up a lie.  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?"  
  
Not really, was the first thing that came to mind, though he  
didn't say it out loud. A few more seconds, and he went with what he  
had, partial truth. "Oh, the lady didn't believe I was Eve's father.  
We fought over it for a bit and then I finally said screw it and left.  
She was rather pissed when I marched out."  
  
"Oh, I see, that's expected, I suppose."  
  
"Yeah," Tomas said, standing up. "So, I guess I should make a  
speech or something, huh?" Tomas didn't look too thrilled as he made  
the suggestion.  
  
Rei gave him an encouraging smile as she replied, "That'd  
probably be nice given you weren't here to greet everyone."  
  
Sighing, and wishing he didn't do that so much, Tomas  
swallowed and began trying to formulate what to say as Rei led him  
over to the crowd. Now that he had his mind off of the killing thing,  
he recognized most of the people who were present. Still, that didn't  
help him too much.  
  
Letting his gaze take in everyone, Tomas began. "Well, I suck  
at speeches, so I'll make this quick. "I'm Tomas. 'Sup?" Seeing the  
slight glare on Rei's face, he continued. "Welcome to my home, and  
I'm glad to see everyone. Me and Eve are knew here, and I'd only met  
a couple of people, so I figured why not throw a party and try to meet  
some more." Looking at everyone again, he shrugged. "So, anyway,  
I'll stop yapping and start cooking. Please, come over to the grill  
and introduce yourselves. Otherwise, have fun, enjoy yourselves."  
  
Shrugging and giving the crowd a quick wave, Tomas made his  
way to his new grill. Arriving at it, he turned on the gas and hit  
the ignition, starting the flames, smiling slightly as he heard them  
roar to life. It'd been awhile since he'd grilled anything. Turning  
away from the grill, Tomas took one look around at everyone, quickly  
counting how many people were present. There were five Senshi, tux-  
boy, four Knightsabers, a kid brother, and two ADPolice detectives.  
Fifteen people were present, which was seven more then he'd expected  
to have shown up. He hadn't really thought that Nene would convince  
anyone to come, or even try for that matter. He did smile, though, as  
he saw the entire group of people mixing and talking, not staying  
separated by age as he had feared.  
  
Shaking his head and letting the smile stay, Tomas headed into  
the shrine and walked through the halls, though he came to a complete  
stop when he saw two more people standing in the kitchen. His smile  
turned to a grin and he began to laugh. "Botan-chan, Koenma, glad you  
came!"  
  
Botan smiled back at Tomas, her eyes seeming to dance. "Hi  
Tomas. Of course we came."  
  
"Yes," Koenma said around his pacifier, "Well, Botan mentioned  
a party and free food, and I thought we could afford to take the night  
off to join you."  
  
"Wonderful," Tomas waved back over his shoulder and down the  
hall. "Everyone's outside enjoying the air. Koenma, why don't you go  
join them? Botan-chan, would you mind helping me bring some stuff  
out?"  
  
"Hmm...that sounds like a good idea." Koenma said as he  
headed for the door. "Botan, help Tomas bring out the food. I'll be  
meeting people."  
  
"Umm, Koenma, a small request," Tomas said, stopping the small  
child.  
  
"Yes? What is it, Tomas?"  
  
"Umm, would you mind not telling everyone you're my boss.  
They either wouldn't understand it, or it'd freak them out and they'd  
try to kill me."  
  
"Really? Hmm...well...I guess so," Koenma said as he walked  
out of the kitchen.  
  
Shrugging that off and hoping Koenma would keep his word,  
Tomas turned back to Botan and smiled. "So shall we get the food? I  
should really need to get the cooking started." Passing Botan, Tomas  
headed to the refrigerator and opened it. "Botan, would you mind  
getting the buns and chips? They're on the counter off to the right."  
  
Botan looked around for a second before seeing the packages of  
buns on one of the counters. "So, what are you making?" she asked as  
she picked them up.  
  
Coming out of the fridge, Tomas had a number of plastic  
grocery bags stacked in his right hand and was carrying a 24 pack of  
soda cans in his left. "I'm just doing up burgers, mets, and dogs.  
Good old junk food, perfect for a spring night." Kicking the door to  
the fridge closed, Tomas headed took a step toward the door before  
nodding Botan to go ahead. "Ladies first."  
  
"Thanks!" Giving another smile, Botan headed out of the  
kitchen and made it two steps before turning to look at Tomas.  
"That's because you can't get the door, right?"  
  
Giving Botan a grin, Tomas found himself unable to resist,  
"Bingo, Bingo." The grin grew a bit larger as Botan laughed and began  
walking again, leading Tomas outside and getting the door.  
  
Back outside, Tomas smiled as he took in the lively group.  
Apparently everyone was just relaxing and enjoying what was going on  
without worrying about their differences. It gave Tomas a bit of hope  
that he could make some friends here. Looking for a moment, he saw  
that Eve was standing near Koenma and apparently talking to Nene.  
Tomas wondered what they were saying, and grew slightly worried at the  
possibilities. Koenma had been someone he hadn't expected even in his  
greatest counting of people coming. That could be trouble, but he'd  
worry about it later.  
  
Reaching the grill, Tomas placed the packages of meat down on  
one of the trays that was connected to it. "Just set the buns down  
there, Botan," Tomas said, indicating the other tray as he put the  
case of soda down. "Why don't you go talk to everyone, and I'll get  
cooking. Enjoy yourself."  
  
"Alright, talk to you later Tomas," Botan said before heading  
off.  
  
Opening the grill, Tomas leaned back away from the heat for a  
moment. "Wow, that got hot," he mumbled to himself as he started to  
pull out packages of preformed hamburgers along with the mets and  
hotdogs. Whistling to himself, Tomas began to pull apart the packages  
and tossed the meat onto the grill, being very careful not to touch  
the raw meat with his hands.  
  
As he closed the grill, Tomas looked up to see Rei almost next  
to him being followed by another girl with long blond hair tied into  
two braids. Tomas knew who she was, of course, but he couldn't let  
that be known. "Heya Rei, who's your friend?" he asked instead.  
  
"Tomas, this is Usagi-chan, a good friend of mine," Rei  
replied, waving Usagi forward slightly.  
  
"Hi! I'm glad to meet you, Tomas! Rei-chan's talked a lot  
about you!" Usagi grinned over at her friend, in an almost wicked  
way. "You should ask her out sometime!"  
  
"Usagi!"  
  
Tomas started to laugh, and shook his head. While he'd found  
Usagi to be rather annoying at times as a character, here in person,  
it was just too funny. "Sorry, Usagi, I've got other things I need to  
do then go out on dates. I have a job, am looking into school, and  
most importantly, I've got Eve to take care of. I can worry about  
dating when she's older."  
  
"I can watch her for you. It wouldn't be any trouble at all."  
  
"Ha ha ha," Tomas tried to stop laughing, but he found he  
couldn't. There was just something about the girl that let his  
problems fade away. "Who knows, maybe someday I'll take you up on  
that offer." Shaking his head, Tomas managed to clam himself down.  
"So, are you two having fun?"  
  
"Yes, it's nice meeting some of the other people you know,"  
Rei said, nodding toward the group.  
  
Tomas was forced to shrug and scratch the back of his head.  
"Well, the truth is," he said, almost embarrassingly, "I only know the  
blonde with short hair, Nene. The rest are friends of hers that she  
invited. A lot like you."  
  
"Oh, I see. Well, you should go talk to them."  
  
"I can't," Tomas shrugged, and nodded to the grill, "I got  
food to cook. I'm sure they'll come over and talk to me, though, if  
Nene drags them, anyway."  
  
Before Rei could respond, Usagi interrupted. "What are you  
cooking?"  
  
"Hamburgers and hotdogs. Its junk food all the way tonight.  
I've got a few gallons of ice cream in the freezer and Rei said she  
was going to make something for dessert."  
  
"Gallons of ice cream...?" Usagi asked in an almost awed  
voice.  
  
Tomas gave the girl an amused look. "Yeah, me and Eve are  
addicted to the stuff, so I always keep a couple of gallons on hand."  
  
Usagi sniffled a bit as she thought about that. "Eve's so  
lucky to have you as a father."  
  
Tomas found himself unable to stop himself from laughing  
again. "Well, why don't you go and explain that to her. Maybe it'll  
make her pay better attention in school."  
  
"Hmm..." Usagi thought about that for a few moments, the  
thought turning around in her mind. "Do you really think so?"  
  
"Yeah, go ahead. She could use a role model, I think." While  
Usagi wasn't really his choice of a role model, it'd get rid of both  
her and Rei for a bit. He wasn't sure if the others were waiting for  
the pair to leave him or not, but it would probably be best to give  
them a chance to stop over and say hello.  
  
"Me, a role model?" Usagi asked in an almost daze. "I think  
I will!" Turning away from Tomas, the girl hurried away.  
  
Rei gazed at Tomas for a moment in a slight state of shock  
before she spoke. "Do you know what you just did?"  
  
"Gave Eve someone to look up to as a big sister figure," came  
Tomas' reply.  
  
"Usagi...is not the best person to be a role model, Tomas."  
  
"Huh?" Tomas asked as he faked confusion, while opening the  
grill and beginning to turn the food over to cook the other side. "I  
thought she was your friend, and she seemed like a fun girl."  
  
Rei shook her head, as she turned away. "She's lazy, not a  
good student, and quite the air head. I better go make sure she  
doesn't turn Eve into a clone of herself."  
  
"Oh, well, have fun."  
  
"Right," Rei said wirely as she walked away.  
  
Sighing as Rei walked away, Tomas turned his attention back  
toward the grill, though it wasn't like staring at it was going to  
make the food cook faster. He thought back to the recent conversation  
with Usagi and Rei and had to smile again. It had been rather  
amusing, he thought, and far better then he'd expected such a meeting  
to go. Of course, now that he thought about it, he realized he hadn't  
thought of it before. Sighing at the confusion his mind was creating  
he looked up to see Nene walking over to him leading a young woman  
dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The woman's bowl cut of brown hair  
was blowing in the breeze that had just kicked up as the pair  
approached.  
  
"Heya Nene," Tomas said, starting the conversation once more,  
glad that he was getting an easy opening again. "I'm glad you came.  
Who's your friend?"  
  
Nene turned to look at her friend. "Linna, this is Tomas.  
Tomas, Linna." Turning her neck slightly, Nene looked at the grill.  
"What are you cooking?"  
  
"Burgers and dogs. Junk food all the way," Tomas replied,  
before looking at Linna. Again he was a bit upset he had to pretend  
he didn't know these people, as it'd have made things far simpler.  
"So, Linna, what do you do for a living?"  
  
"Me? I work at Hugh-Geit. Its mostly office work." Linna  
shrugged it off as she turned an inquisitive gaze onto Tomas. "Nene  
told me you're a detective." She said, though her voice made it far  
more of a questions.  
  
Tomas nodded and pointed toward Botan. "You see the girl over  
there with the long light blue hair?" he asked. "She's my partner,  
and the one who recruited me, though from what I understand our boss  
pointed me out to her."  
  
Linna gazed at Botan for a second before turning back to  
Tomas. "But, she's even younger then you are."  
  
Tomas shook his head in response. "No, she's older then me,  
by quite a bit, so she and the boss claim. Still, we get along fairly  
well, even if we haven't had a case yet."  
  
"Really? Umm...who exactly do you work for?"  
  
Tomas began to sweat slightly as he tried to recall the name  
he'd given Nene before. After a few moments and sure he was delaying  
too long, he gave up and hoped he could get away without a name.  
"It's just a small private agency, nothing you'd have heard of, I'm  
sure." Not wanting to leave room for the issue to be pressed, Tomas  
added, "I got pulled in because of some unique talents."  
  
Linna frowned for a moment at the evasiveness of the previous  
issue, but she shrugged  
  
"Yes, I'm curious as well," came a strange voice from behind  
Tomas.  
  
Turning around, Tomas took in the two men who were now  
standing in front of him. They were dressed in business suits and  
clean cut. Despite that, however, Tomas didn't recognize either of  
them at all. Still, thinking maybe Nene had invited them he answered  
the question. "Umm...security and acquisition, mostly."  
  
"That's a strange pair of jobs, especially for one so young."  
This response came from the man on Tomas' right, and he took the guy  
in. He was thin, slightly shorter then Tomas was, with jet hair and a  
touch of gray mixed in.  
  
"Yeah, well a guy's gotta live. I haven't got parents, so I  
needed to learn to do things on my own." Taking in both men again,  
something in Tomas started to scream trouble at him. He wondered  
briefly if the pair were really demons in disguise. That would  
certainly make his day. Still, all he could do was ask, "Umm...who  
are you anyway?"  
  
The man who had been talking continued with the replies. "I'm  
detective Sudo, this is detective Takimoto. We need to talk to you  
about Mitsushi Ketsunoana."  
  
Tomas looked at the pair, a sinking feeling coming over him.  
even as his mind began to run through numerous excuses he could use,  
his mouth supplied a simplistic answer that he was sure wouldn't get  
him in trouble. "Huh?"  
  
"She's dead."  
  
Tomas looked at the detectives for a second and every excuse  
he was creating just died. He responded on pure instinct. "Oh shit."  
Author's Notes: Cliffhanger! BWAHAHAHAHA! How wonderful to use it.  
For those who were upset about skipping all the mental trauma of  
having killed someone, well, I'm not in the mood to write lots of dark  
introspection that would drag things down. Suffice to say, there was  
some suffering, and he forced his way over it. 


	8. Chapter 7

A Dark World  
  
An SI/Mega X-over  
  
By Tomas Megarson  
  
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com  
  
See my page at: http://nighthawk.anifics.com  
  
Disclaimer: The characters, settings, and places of "Sailor Moon"  
  
were created by and belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The characters,  
  
settings, and places of "YuYuHakusho" were created by and belong to  
  
Yoshihiro Togashi. The characters, settings, and places of "Black  
  
Cat" were created by and belong to Yabuki Kentaro. The characters,  
  
settings, and places of "Bubblegum Crisis 2040" belong to those who  
  
created the anime, and are too numerous to name here.  
  
Chapter 7  
  
"Oh shit."  
  
Detective Sudo gazed at the young man before him and raised an  
  
eyebrow at the response. It hadn't been exactly what he'd been  
  
expecting, unless the kid had killed her, of course. That would be  
  
quite strange, however, given that the forensic team hadn't found any  
  
sign of struggle and no wounds on the teacher. Until the autopsy was  
  
finished, they'd have no idea how the woman had died. Still,  
  
questioning the kid was important. "Why do you say that?"  
  
Sudo's eyes watched the green eyes of the kid, Tomas, as they  
  
flicked around for a second. He raised an eyebrow as the black hair  
  
kid turned his head around for a moment to take in the rest of the  
  
party before turning back to him.  
  
"She was my daughter's teacher. Eve's gonna probably take  
  
this hard." Tomas' voice was soft as he spoke. "Do you mind keeping  
  
your voice down, I'd rather be the one to tell her, and later so it  
  
doesn't ruin her time here."  
  
"I see." Sudo trailed off for a few seconds and glanced over  
  
at his partner, Takimoto. The other man hadn't made any signs of  
  
noticing anything wrong, and so he continued the questioning. "When  
  
was the last time you saw Mrs. Ketsunoana?"  
  
"This afternoon." Tomas' voice was steady and clear, and the  
  
nervousness that Sudo had noticed before was gone. "She'd wanted to  
  
see me because Eve was having problems in school. How did she die?"  
  
The question was asked quickly before Sudo could respond to Tomas'  
  
previous answer.  
  
"We don't know," Takimoto spoke for the first time.  
  
Sudo managed to keep from grimacing, though it was hard.  
  
Something seemed off to him in the kid, but thanks to his partner's  
  
response, he could already tell the kid was slightly more relaxed.  
  
The damn rookie ruined an opportunity to press the boy. Biting back  
  
his anger at his partner, Sudo continued his short bit of questioning.  
  
"What sort of trouble was Eve having in school?"  
  
Tomas gave the detective a bit of a shrug. "I never found  
  
out. When I went to see her she started yelling at me how she was  
  
going to tell my parents about me trying to cover up for Eve or some  
  
crap like that. I told her to check with the government and she'd see  
  
I really was Eve's father, but she kept calling me Eve's brother and  
  
telling me how much trouble I was getting myself into. I finally gave  
  
up and stormed out of the conference room the meeting was it."  
  
"And she was alright when you left?"  
  
"Well, if you call being extremely pissed and threatening to  
  
call my parents alright, then yeah." Sudo watched with slight  
  
interest as Tomas shrugged. "If she does find my parents, though, I'd  
  
love to meet them."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
The green eyes that were taking in Sudo blinked. "I'm an  
  
orphan. Never knew my folks. If I ever meet them, I think I'll deck  
  
them for abandoning me." Sudo watched with some interest as Tomas'  
  
gaze turned away from him and back to the small blond child. "Then  
  
again, maybe not. After all, who knows what would have happened to  
  
Eve."  
  
Raising an eyebrow, Sudo inquired, "What do you mean?"  
  
Tomas continued speaking without moving his gaze. "Eve's  
  
parents were friends of mine, though quite a bit older. When I was  
  
living in an orphanage in Kyoto, they were there too, and took care of  
  
me. They died a few months ago, and Eve lost her memories. I  
  
couldn't bare the thought of her going to an orphanage like I was in,  
  
so I adopted her, with some help, obviously."  
  
"I see." Sudo frowned for a few moments as he thought.  
  
"Who's help did you have?"  
  
His gaze returning to the detectives, Tomas replied,  
  
"Suzakimi-san, in the parlament. He was a friend of an old boss of  
  
mine, and was happy to help me."  
  
Sudo's face blanched ever so slightly as that name was spoken.  
  
Suzakimi was well known and far above reproach. If he vouched for  
  
this kid, there was practicly nothing he could do. Still, he had to  
  
continue his questioning. "Back to Ketsunoana, how long were you with  
  
her?"  
  
"I don't know, maybe five or so minutes."  
  
Finally, Sudo sighed. As things stood he knew he couldn't do  
  
anything about the boy. While something about him felt off, there was  
  
no way at all to bring the kid in for more intensive questioning. "As  
  
far as we know, you're the last person who saw her, so stay in town  
  
until we get back to you."  
  
Tomas nodded to the man, "I got no plans to go anywhere, so  
  
its not a big deal."  
  
Pulling one of his business cards out of his pocket, Sudo  
  
handed it to Tomas. "If you think of anything give me a call."  
  
"Yeah, will do."  
  
Turning away from the boy, Sudo began his walk across the  
  
Shrine's grounds, his eyes taking in the couple of groups of people  
  
that were milling around. The age difference between the various  
  
people caught his eye and made him curios as to how the group had come  
  
together, but he'd save the questioning for later. He could respect  
  
the kid's request to tell his daughter on his own.  
  
The fact that a kid that young had a daughter made Sudo very  
  
curious. He was definitely going to check out the records on the  
  
subject and find out how someone so young managed to get a daughter.  
  
Just as he reached the steps, a cry of "SHIT, MY BURGERS!" reached his  
  
ears. Glancing over his shoulder, he shook his head as he caught an  
  
angry expression on Tomas' face as he looked into his grill. Then, as  
  
he moved down the steps he lost view of his suspect. Unless the  
  
autopsy told otherwise, of course.  
  
***  
  
Glaring into the grill at the charred and flaming remains of  
  
what should have been dinner, Tomas' green eyes filled with anger.  
  
"Damn it, I KNEW those two were trouble, I just knew it. Man, when  
  
they asked me if I was Tomas, I should have said no."  
  
Looking at the fuming host of the party, Linna shook her head.  
  
She wasn't sure how to react to the now ranting young man. For him to  
  
go from dealing with an on the sport interrogation to complaining  
  
about some burnt food, she just couldn't get it. Finally, she asked,  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
Adding the charred remains of the last burger to the pile on  
  
the plate next to him, Tomas sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
From next to Linna, Nene spoke up. "You seem to be taking  
  
this well."  
  
Moving toward the Shrine, Tomas waved for the two to follow  
  
him. Not looking to see if they were doing so, he replied, "I've  
  
known people before who've died, and to be honest, spending five  
  
minutes with the woman listening to her rant and rave doesn't really  
  
leave me with much of an impression on her death." Besides, he added  
  
to himself, I've been dealing with this for a few hours now.  
  
"Oh," Nene's voice came from behind him, "I guess that makes  
  
sense."  
  
"Not really," Tomas shrugged, and spun, so he could face the  
  
two women while he walked backwards toward the kitchen. "I'm just  
  
fairly good and shoving my emotions aside most of the time. It'll  
  
probably hit me bad later." Before Tomas could continue his speech,  
  
however, something hit the back of his legs. He didn't have time to  
  
do anymore then cry out as he fell over backward and slammed into the  
  
ground, his head hitting it hard.  
  
Cries from both the girls came as Tomas fell over; their eyes  
  
watched the burnt food move through the air spreading across the  
  
ground. Nene moved toward Tomas' head while Linna looked to see what  
  
he'd tripped over. "Are you okay?" Nene asked.  
  
"I don't know," came the groaned response. "What'd I run  
  
into?"  
  
"They're cats," came Linna's surprised response. "Nene didn't  
  
tell me you had any cats."  
  
"I don't." Pushing himself up, Tomas pushed his fingers  
  
through his hair to feel where his head had hit the ground. Bringing  
  
the fingers around, he was glad not to see any blood. Taking his mind  
  
off that fear, he looked at the two cats. "Damn it L," Tomas bit back  
  
the moon cat's name and swallowed down more curses. As Tomas went  
  
back to rubbing his head, he drew in a shuddering breath and did his  
  
best to calm down and think.  
  
As he thought things over, he realized that he was starting to  
  
make serious slips, and it was going to get him into a lot of trouble  
  
if he couldn't learn to control it. He could just see himself now  
  
running into the Knight Sabers and calling them by their real names.  
  
That would get him killed very fast, probably faster then the demon he  
  
was waiting for to show up and do the job.  
  
Shaking his head and bringing himself back to the present,  
  
Tomas looked at the two cats, which were trapped under his legs, but  
  
squirming to try to get out. Frowning for a second at the black and  
  
white pair, Tomas reached over and as he bent his legs up, he scooped  
  
the pair each into an arm. "I'm going to find out who these two  
  
belong two." Sliding his legs under himself, Tomas climbed back to  
  
his feet. "You two wanna come?"  
  
"Umm..." Nene looked down at the mess on the floor and then  
  
back to Tomas. "What about that?"  
  
Looking at the mess, Tomas shrugged. "I was going to throw it  
  
out anyway. It's already on the floor, so leaving it there for  
  
another ten minutes won't hurt anything."  
  
"What are you going to do for dinner, then?"  
  
Looking at Linna, Tomas smiled. "I've got more in the fridge,  
  
of course." His smile quickly vanished. "I was planning on using it  
  
for dinner later in the week, but, oh well."  
  
"Oh, I see." Nene thought for a few moments before speaking  
  
up again. "Tomas, why don't you go ahead? Linna and I can clean this  
  
up and bring out the extra food."  
  
Tomas looked at Nene and blinked. "Uh, you don't have to.  
  
Its not too big a deal."  
  
"No, no, I insist. You're the host, so you should be spending  
  
time with everyone."  
  
Looking at Nene for a moment longer, he shrugged. He hated  
  
cleaning up, so this worked out fine for him. "Okay then, I'll see  
  
you two in a bit, I guess." Turning around, Tomas headed out of the  
  
kitchen, carrying the cats with him.  
  
After Tomas was gone, Linna turned and glared at Nene. "What  
  
was that about?"  
  
Looking through the door Tomas had gone, Nene had an intense  
  
expression on her face. "After what happened with those two  
  
detectives, I want to learn more about him. This gives us a chance."  
  
Kneeling down, Nene began to grab up the burnt food. "Come on, help  
  
me toss this into the garbage and we'll go explore."  
  
"Nene," Linna was practically glaring at her friend. "That's  
  
the wrong thing to do. If you want to know, you should ask Tomas, not  
  
go snooping around."  
  
"Linna," Nene sighed, "if there was something bad about him, I  
  
don't think he'd just tell us. Snooping is the only sure way to find  
  
out. Now, come on and help me."  
  
Sighing and knowing that she wasn't going to get out of it,  
  
Linna bent down and began to help Nene with the quick cleaning.  
  
***  
  
"Hey, what's this?"  
  
Turning away from the closet she was looking through, Linna's  
  
attention focused on the book Nene was holding up. The book's cover  
  
was solid black with Tomas' name written in white. "A diary, maybe?"  
  
"Hmm..." Opening the book, Nene scanned the first page before  
  
shaking her head. "No, its not handwritten, or even printed on  
  
computer paper. Also, it's written like you'd find in a bookstore."  
  
"Strange." Shrugging it off, Linna turned back to the closet.  
  
"Why don't you read through some of it and see what it says?"  
  
"I plan to," Nene replied as she sat down on Tomas' bed.  
  
It was a couple of minutes later when Linna called out in  
  
surprise. "Now this is interesting!" Turning back to Nene, Linna  
  
help up a small black device with a single button with the word Hack  
  
written on it. "Do you think this is some kind of joke?"  
  
Frowning at the device, Nene reached up and took it from Linna  
  
as the brunet walked over to her. Flipping the device over in her  
  
hands a couple of times, her eyes searched for anything more  
  
distinctive then the one word button. Finally, her eyes caught  
  
another pair of words, though these two had been scribbled over in  
  
black marker. "Black Ice?" she mumbled the question to herself. Her  
  
eyes glazed over slightly as she thought hard on the name, sure now  
  
that it was familiar. Suddenly, it hit her and Nene's eyes shot wide  
  
open as she began to tremble slightly. "My god, I know what this is!"  
  
Linna raised an eyebrow at Nene. "Are you going to tell me?"  
  
Nene nodded and began talking in a soft voice. "A couple of  
  
years ago there were a bunch of rumors about Genom developing a high  
  
level hacking tool that was both simplistic and powerful. Being a  
  
hacker myself, of course I was interested. There were all sorts of  
  
vague rumors running around about how it could remotely hack into any  
  
system it was near, and how the more often it was used, the more  
  
powerful it's hacking abilities became."  
  
Grabbing her purse from where she had tossed it as she and  
  
Linna had entered the room, Nene pulled out her pocket computer.  
  
Bringing the Black Ice near it, she pressed the Hack button as she  
  
continued speaking. "Getting in any system was supposed to be as easy  
  
as this." Nene blinked as her pocket PC turned on and a small bar  
  
with the word 'Hacked' above it came up on the display screen on the  
  
Black Ice and ever so slowly began shrinking. "No way..." Nene was  
  
breathless for a second before she quickly hit the hack button again.  
  
Her pocket PC instantly turned off.  
  
"What's wrong, Nene?"  
  
"This...this has to be the Black Ice." Slowly Nene's  
  
trembling hands put both the small black tool and her pocket pc down.  
  
"My god...it went through my security like it was nothing."  
  
"Right." A small smirk came to Linna's lips. It was actually  
  
nice to see her friend humbled in the computer area for once. Still,  
  
that wasn't why they were here. "So, why does Tomas have it? How did  
  
he even get it?"  
  
"Well," Nene swallowed slightly before continuing, "the last  
  
rumors about it were that someone had broken into the research  
  
facility where it was being developed and stole the prototype before  
  
destroying the entire place."  
  
"You don't think Tomas...?"  
  
Nene shook her head. "I don't know. I just don't know. He  
  
seems nice enough, and Eve is really cute. He just doesn't seem like  
  
the kind of guy who could do that."  
  
"But we don't really know him, do we?"  
  
"No, we don't." Looking off to the side, Nene eyed the book  
  
with the young man's name written on it. "But this might tell us."  
  
"Do you really think so? It's not really an autobiography, is  
  
it?"  
  
"No," Nene replied, "But it's a lot better then asking."  
  
Linna blinked for a second and frowned. "Wait a second, you  
  
mean you're going to steal it?"  
  
Nene shook her head as she put the book, her pocket pc, and  
  
the Black Ice into her purse. "Not steal, just barrow. I'll bring  
  
them back when I'm done. I'm sure Tomas will understand."  
  
"And if he doesn't?" Linna replied as she began heading toward  
  
the door. They'd been in the house about as long as they could, and  
  
she knew it was now only a matter of time before Tomas came looking  
  
for them.  
  
Getting up and following Linna, Nene responded, "Don't worry,  
  
I'm too cute for him too stay angry with."  
  
"Right," came the sarcastic reply as the pair moved into the  
  
kitchen. "Come on, lets just get the food and get back out there."  
  
"Right."  
  
Getting the spare meat out of the fridge proved no problems,  
  
and the pair had almost made it to the front door when it slid open  
  
and Tomas stepped in. On seeing them, he blinked. "I was worried  
  
something happened. Are you two okay? It took you quite awhile."  
  
Giving a smile, Nene shook her head, doing her best to keep  
  
her emotions and all the questions she had bottled up. "I just had to  
  
use the bathroom. You don't mind, do you?"  
  
Shaking his head, Tomas stepped aside and gave a small wave to  
  
the door. "Not at all, except people are getting hungry. Lets get  
  
dinner part two cooking, eh?"  
  
Nodding her head and stepping outside, Nene smiled. "Sure  
  
thing."  
  
***  
  
With a garbage bag slung over one shoulder filled with the  
  
remnants of his party, Tomas stepped back into his home, the soft  
  
lights casting a warm glow through the living room. "Well, that  
  
wasn't a complete bomb, at least," he mumbled to himself as he set the  
  
bag of garbage down and closed the door behind him.  
  
In truth, the party hadn't been a total disaster, and had the  
  
first batch of food not been ruined, he could have counted it a  
  
success. He managed to have at least short discussions with everyone  
  
who had shown up for the party, and everyone had apparently had a good  
  
time, though he wasn't too sure about Priss. He was surprised she'd  
  
even shown up, and more surprised that she stuck around. That had to  
  
count for something.  
  
Collapsing on the couch, Tomas let his gaze drift out the  
  
window and into the night sky. His eyes slowly traced over the stars  
  
as his thoughts drifted back to home, his real home. He wondered what  
  
his parents were doing, and his sister, and even his roommate, though  
  
they'd only known each other for a few months. Closing his eyes,  
  
Tomas mentally said a small wish for his parents and sister, hoping  
  
they'd be able to live their lives and be strong without him. He'd  
  
hate to be the cause of his family falling apart, especially after all  
  
he and his sister had done to get their parents to still realize that  
  
they loved each other. That had been a trying two years.  
  
Opening his eyes again, Tomas' gaze returned out the window as  
  
a soft cool breeze blew through the screen that was in place. The  
  
smell of the fresh air filled his nose and gave him a sense of peace  
  
as his eyes sought out more stars. A slight glint below the sky line  
  
caused him to focus his eyes more, however. Blinking at the spot, he  
  
slowly worked out the complete shape.  
  
"OH SHIT!"  
  
`Throwing himself off the couch and to the side, Tomas went  
  
into a slight panic as a gunshot rang through the room. He didn't  
  
wait to see what was going to happen, instead gathering his legs under  
  
him and sprinting down the hall and toward the kitchen, wincing as a  
  
second gunshot called out. Not feeling any pain, however, Tomas kept  
  
his sprint up.  
  
When the door to the kitchen banged open, Tomas truly began to  
  
get terrified. A second man was standing in the doorway, a gun in his  
  
hand and aiming for Tomas. Acting on instinct, Tomas bent over as far  
  
as he could as his long legs carried him toward the man at an almost  
  
uncontrolled rate. The man got a single shot off, and as the bullet  
  
scraped along Tomas' back and caused him to grunt in pain, but he  
  
didn't fall.  
  
And then Tomas was on the man. In the split second it took  
  
for Tomas' last step to cause him to reach the man, his mind went  
  
through the choices of what to do. And then he was there, and Tomas'  
  
fist lashed out, carried not only by his strength, but by his momentum  
  
as well. The fist didn't crash into the man's stomach, didn't slam  
  
into the man's surprised face, or even get shoved into the man's  
  
groin, though that was an option. Tomas wasn't feeling that kind  
  
about the whole situation, and getting slightly wounded by the single  
  
bullet had brought his head back to reality and out of the fog of  
  
fear.  
  
Just as he reached the man, Tomas' body straightened up and  
  
his fist came in an upper cut that didn't hit the man's chin, but his  
  
throat instead. Tomas felt the soft part of the man's body cave in  
  
under the blow, his ears filled with the sound of the throat being  
  
crushed. Then his momentum caused the rest of Tomas to slam into the  
  
man and the pair fell to the floor.  
  
Even as they hit the ground, Tomas gave the man no more  
  
thought. He knew that the guy was dead, and that was perfectly  
  
alright with him. Scrambling back to his feet, Tomas continued his  
  
dash away from the man who'd been in the front door, his right hand  
  
lashing out as he passed the counter. The hand came back to his body  
  
now clutching a pair of steak knives that he'd torn from their wood  
  
block holder. His ears caught the sound of the rest of the knives and  
  
the block itself crash to the floor as his momentum pulled it off the  
  
counter, but he paid it no more mind then he had the dying man behind  
  
him.  
  
Crashing out the back door and into the night air, Tomas  
  
immediately cut to his left and skidded to a stop. Breathing heavily,  
  
Tomas tossed the knives he was carrying up onto the roof, and then  
  
jumped up, grabbing the edge and then pulling himself up after them.  
  
Breathing heavily and his heart pounding in his chest as he'd  
  
never felt it, Tomas gathered up the knives, one in each hand, and  
  
moved to the edge of the roof, crouching down. Struggling, he began  
  
to slow his breathing, trying to make himself as quiet as possible.  
  
Even as he did so, he couldn't resist speaking to himself. "Fuck,  
  
this is insane," he managed to croak out between breathes. Then,  
  
drawing in one large breath, he slowly let it out, managing to get his  
  
breath under control.  
  
With that done, Tomas let his eyes scan as much of the yard as  
  
he could see, struggling to search the shadows as his eyes slowly  
  
adjusted to the darkness. It would really suck to get shot from some  
  
guy standing by the trees, after all. Thankfully, however, he didn't  
  
manage to see anyone, so instead he inched his way over a bit so that  
  
he was above the door.  
  
Now, rather then struggle with his eyes, he began to struggle  
  
with his ears, trying to hear if or when the man who'd tried to kill  
  
him in the living room was going to come out. Then, a bit thankfully  
  
to him, a thud came from the kitchen telling him someone had fallowed  
  
him there. Tensing himself, Tomas waited, his focus now on the ground  
  
below him, waiting for it to be filled by a human form.  
  
It wasn't a long wait. The door quietly opened, but the light  
  
streaming from it and the shadow of a person gave Tomas all the  
  
knowledge he needed. His tense muscles began to twitch as he prepared  
  
himself for the move he was about to try. As the seconds ticked away,  
  
Tomas grimaced, his muscles straining to keep him in place. He was  
  
about to relax himself when the person in the kitchen doorway finally  
  
stepped out.  
  
Tomas didn't hesitate a second, not wanting to give the man  
  
even a split moment to turn around and look up. Tomas' legs propelled  
  
him up into the air and directly over the man in a small jump. Then  
  
he fell. As his feet slammed into the man's broad shoulders, Tomas  
  
collapsed his knees back into a crouch and drove both knives he held  
  
into the man's throat. As the pair hit the ground, Tomas twisted and  
  
jerked the knives, hoping it was enough to ensure the man wouldn't be  
  
getting up and shooting him.  
  
The man's gurgled response was all Tomas needed to be sure the  
  
man wouldn't be getting up again. Leaving his knives where they were,  
  
Tomas rose to his feet, and stepped back off the man so that he was  
  
now in the doorway. A grateful sigh released from his lips as he  
  
realized all of the training he'd done was most likely the only reason  
  
he was still alive.  
  
"You're good kid, too bad I gotta kill you now."  
  
The man's arrogant comment was all Tomas needed to react. He  
  
wasn't fast enough to remain completely safe, however. Even as he  
  
trough himself backwards something extremely hard slammed into his  
  
stomach and propelled him farther back into the kitchen. He slid  
  
across the floor a bit before coming to a stop. Looking up, Tomas  
  
blinked and swallowed as a huge man with bulging muscles followed him  
  
through the door, the man tossing a metal baseball bat over his  
  
shoulder. Coughing up a bit of blood, Tomas twisted his body so he  
  
could propel himself back trough the kitchen door. He blinked and  
  
turned back to the man, swallowing hard.  
  
"Yeah," the man said in a rough voice, "Kenzo did a good job  
  
blocking your escape. You ain't gonna run through that door with the  
  
fridge blocking it. There ain't no way you're gonna move it before I  
  
can carve ya up." So saying, the man pulled out a pair of large,  
  
military style knives from behind his back. "I'm going to slice you  
  
real good boy."  
  
As the man slowly began to stalk forward, Tomas pushed himself  
  
back, not bothering to stand. "Well," he muttered under his breath,  
  
"guess I'll be seeing you soon, Botan-chan."  
  
"What was that," the man asked, a slightly amused look now on  
  
his hard face.  
  
"Oh," Tomas spoke up, "nothing, nothing...at...all..."trailing  
  
off, Tomas' eyes widened slightly. Botan...of course, he was a Reiki  
  
detective! He wasn't out of this fight yet. Steeling himself, Tomas  
  
raised his right arm, index finger pointing toward the man and gripped  
  
his wrist with his left hand. A nasty smirk came to Tomas' face.  
  
"Well," his voice was now filled with arrogance and slightly snide as  
  
well, "come on. Let's get this over with."  
  
"Are you going to poke me to death? Well, if you insist..."  
  
"Oh, I do. Unless you're scared."  
  
The man's arrogant look faded even as Tomas' simply grew  
  
bigger. "Fine kid. Just die." So saying, the man propelled himself  
  
forward with a speed that didn't fit his size.  
  
As the man started his charge, a ball of blue energy quickly  
  
formed at the tip of Tomas' extended finger, growing to the size of a  
  
pool ball. As the man leapt for him, not even noticing the energy,  
  
Tomas' mind went blank. His jaw dropped open as the name of the  
  
attack fled from his mind, stunning him into inaction. Something in  
  
Tomas wouldn't let him launch the attack while remaining silent.  
  
Trying as hard as he could, he failed to launch the attack at the man.  
  
As the man's charge brought him to tower over Tomas and the knives  
  
streaked for him, Tomas snapped.  
  
"SHIT!"  
  
A beam of blue energy erupted from the ball, slamming into the  
  
man and driving him up and backward, continuing to do so until the man  
  
slammed into the corner between the far wall and ceiling. Then the  
  
beam died out and man fell to the floor.  
  
Pushing himself to his feel, Tomas turned his gaze to his  
  
finger. "Great, so I got a Shit Gun now? Man, just my luck." At a  
  
groan, Tomas turned his attention to the man, the panic that had  
  
filled him fully gone now. "Well, was it as good for you as it was  
  
for me?" Tomas couldn't help himself, he just had to taunt the  
  
fucker. After scaring the hell out of him, it was the least he could  
  
do.  
  
"What the hell was that?"  
  
Without any pressure, the real name of the attack came back to  
  
Tomas. "My Rei-Gun," he said with a rather pleased smile. "Isn't it  
  
neat?" The smile quickly changed to an angry glare. "That was my  
  
nice attack. This is my evil one." Raising his right hand, Tomas  
  
twisted it so that his True Rune was facing the man. "Soul Eater!"  
  
As its name was called, the Rune began to glow with power and an image  
  
of it formed above Tomas. "FINGER OF DEATH!"  
  
The same black line of energy that had taken the life of Eve's  
  
teacher tore from the image and slammed into the man. The man's  
  
anguished screams filled the shrine as Soul Eater's powers ripped out  
  
the man's soul and destroyed it, claiming his life in the process. As  
  
the magical attack died away, a sense of satisfaction entered the back  
  
of his mind. Glancing down at the Rune, he nodded. "This time, I  
  
agree with you."  
  
Then he let go of the tough, arrogant persona he'd taken  
  
leaned heavily against the kitchen table. "Damn, but this is a mess.  
  
God, I hope it didn't wake Eve up." Blinking, Tomas turned to the  
  
kitchen door. "Oh god...EVE!"  
  
Straightening, Tomas faced the blocked kitchen door and raised  
  
his right hand, gripping his wrist once more. With a mix of anger and  
  
just plain not caring about himself, a ball of blue energy formed at  
  
the tip once more. "REI-GUN!" The beam launched out and slammed into  
  
the door, throwing it off its hinges and down the hall.  
  
As the Reiki died down, Tomas stumbled and fell to the floor  
  
feeling more wasted then he had in his entire life. Still, he knew he  
  
couldn't let that stop him, and shoved himself to his feet. Vaulting  
  
over the refrigerator that remained in place, Tomas stumbled again and  
  
leaned against the wall. "Shit...that was dumb..."  
  
Gathering what strength he could, Tomas forced himself down  
  
the hallway and to Eve's room. The door was still shut, but Tomas  
  
didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing. Reaching to the  
  
handle, he pressed himself against the wall to give as little profile  
  
as possible to anyone who might be inside, and slowly turned the knob.  
  
As soon as it was turned all the way, Tomas threw the door open as  
  
hard as he could and dove into the room, hitting the floor fast, and  
  
scanning every corner, ready to unleash Soul Eater again. Seeing no  
  
one, his attention turned to the bed.  
  
Neither Eve nor her blankets were there, however, the mattress  
  
bare and looking empty. Trembling slightly, Tomas' gaze moved up to  
  
the large window, and seeing the screen cut away and the glass still  
  
open, he could only swallow and turn his gaze to the closet, the only  
  
place in the room it was possible for someone to hide in. Moving to  
  
the door, he quickly grabbed the handle and threw it open even as he  
  
tossed himself backwards. Besides clothes, however, the closet was  
  
empty.  
  
"No...no...fuck no..." Pushing himself back to his feet,  
  
Tomas moved almost lifelessly out of the room. Turning left, he  
  
stumbled his way back toward the living room. "Kami-sama, no." He  
  
hated this part of himself sometimes, at times like these. He grew  
  
attached to people fast when they were in his life constantly. Eve  
  
had become part of his life, someone who had slightly replaced the  
  
family he'd lost.  
  
And now he'd lost her. What the hell was he going to do?  
  
Looking toward the front door, he noticed that it was open, probably  
  
left that by the guy he'd killed with the knives. Turning to head to  
  
it, to close it, his eyes narrowed as they caught the outline of  
  
someone in the window and moving toward the door. Finding energy he  
  
didn't know he still had, Tomas propelled himself to the door, Going  
  
into a jump kick just before he reached it and the person stepped into  
  
the frame. His foot connected with the person's chest, causing a  
  
female cry of pain to go up.  
  
With almost wild eyes, Tomas dove forward, his knees hitting  
  
the woman in the stomach and his hands wrapping around her throat.  
  
"Where's Eve! Where the hell did you take her!" His gaze bore into  
  
the woman's fear filled eyes, and as they did so, he slowly came to  
  
realize whom it was. Pushing himself off the girl, Tomas rolled off  
  
of her and wrapped his arms around his knees. "Nene, god, I'm sorry.  
  
It's just...Eve...those bastards."  
  
Coughing and sitting up while holding her stomach, Nene turned  
  
her expression to Tomas. Her eyes were still fearful, but as she took  
  
in the boy's haunted expression, that fear faded away slightly. "What  
  
happened?"  
  
"Some guys, tried to kill me, kidnapped Eve. I thought you  
  
were another one. Sorry." Trembling from a mix of shock and  
  
exhaustion, Tomas turned his gaze to her. "I killed three of them. I  
  
don't know how many more might have come. God, Eve..."  
  
Nene took a moment to absorb that before she asked, "Kidnapped  
  
Eve? Who could have done that? Who would have done that?"  
  
"I don't know, damn it, I just don't." Tomas stopped suddenly  
  
and his eyes narrowed. "No, I do know. Only one person would have  
  
done this. Torneo." Pushing himself to his feet, Tomas offered Nene  
  
a hand to help her up.  
  
Nene accepted the offer, her worries over what Tomas might do  
  
to her gone now that she knew at least somewhat as to what caused it.  
  
"What are you going to do?" she asked as the pair headed into the  
  
house.  
  
"Kill him."  
  
Author's Notes: Well, yet another cliffhanger! BWAHAHAHAHA! That  
  
last scene was fun to write, though I'm sure I could have done it  
  
better. As for next time, well, suffice to say, things get moving. 


End file.
